


Protecting you Part 2A

by superredcorp



Series: Possible lives of Linda Lee [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:48:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 37,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23651845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superredcorp/pseuds/superredcorp
Summary: Continuation of Part 1, Version 1The story of Linda finding her place goes on:)
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers & Red Daughter | Linda Lee, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers & Red Daughter | Linda Lee, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor/Red Daughter | Linda Lee, Red Daughter | Linda Lee/Lena Luthor
Series: Possible lives of Linda Lee [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696060
Comments: 60
Kudos: 72





	1. Author's Note

Welcome back!!

This is Version A of the evolving events ^-^  
In which I can already tell you (but you probably know it from the tags already), there will be a polyamorous relationship between Kara, Lena and Linda.  
Of course the only romantic associations are between Kara&Lena and Lena&Linda.  
Kara and Linda are just sister and they're staying sisters, nothing romantic there^-^

Anyways, I'll start posting here and on Version B tomorrow. Hope you'll enjoy it and thanks so much for reading!


	2. Chapter 16A

A few days had passed by now and Linda had settled more deeply into the normal day to day life, or well as normal as life could be as a kryptonian trying to live a human life.  
People in National City started to trust Red Daughter more.  
She got along much better in CatCo, finding her way into working there and actually enjoying.  
As it turned out, Nia had actually been right about the assumption that they'd become great friends. It took only a few days for them to grow close.

When one day, Nia greeted Linda excitedly with a hug and the exclaim of "Hey, sun puppy!", Kara was quite surprised to say the least and she rose her eyebrows in confusion but also amusement.   
"Sun puppy?", she asked.  
Linda beamed at her and nodded hastily. "That's my nickname!"  
Nia's cheeks turned a little red as she rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. "I thought it fit her."  
"No, no, I like it. It's very cute.", Kara chuckled.   
Linda simply smiled proudly. 

However one thing which was weighing on her was this weird feeling she got everytime she saw Lena. Especially when she saw Lena and Kara kiss. But though it felt strange, almost hurt her physically, she still couldn't look away. As if a magnet was pulling her in, as if a greater force was forcing her to watch her - and watch them interact.  
And she didn't even know why.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Since Eliza would soon be leaving National City to go back home again, she wanted to have a last dinner with the whole family. That meant inviting Lena, and Kelly, who had not too long ago  
either gotten together with Alex, too.  
While Kelly was just happy to meet Alex's mom, Lena was quite nervous since she had a lot of baggage because of her last name. Who in their right mind would want their daughter to date a Luthor? Especially when said daughter was a Super?

However as soon as she arrived, she found that there was no reason to worry at all as she was greeted by Eliza with a  
delighted hug.  
"It's so great to meet the two ladies who won my daughters' hearts.", Eliza smiled.  
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs Danvers.", Kelly and Lena said at the same time.  
"Oh please, call me Eliza."  
The dinner itself was wonderful. There was a lot of talking and laughing as well as flirting and gentle touching of hands or shoulders between the new lovebirds.

The only one who appeared a little distraught was Linda. She did laugh about the jokes which were made and listened attentively to the stories which were told. But every now and then, her smile faltered and she looked over at Kara and Lena with sad eyes, feeling like there was a knot in her throat. At some point it just seemed to get too much.  
"Excuse me.", Linda choked out, jumping up from her seat and taking a few long strodes back into the bedroom which had sort of become a safe place, a hide  
out, for her.

The rest of the women at the table were startled by the sudden change of events.  
Then both Alex and Kara moved their chairs to get up and follow her but Eliza raised her hands, motioning for them to  
stay.  
"It's alright, girls, I'll go. I think this might be a job for a mom.", she said, already standing up. "And Kara? No eavesdropping."  
Kara sighed but nodded.  
Eliza walked over to the bedroom, silently going in and closing the door again behind her.  
Linda was sitting on the bed, hands gripping the edge and taking deep shaky breaths with closed eyes.

"Hey, sweetie.", Eliza said softly. "What's wrong?"  
Linda glanced in her direction. "It's... it's nothing."  
Eliza tilted her head, walking over to the bed and settling down next to her. "You know, usually there is something going on if someone's on the verge of tears."  
Linda looked at her for a few seconds, then lowered her head again and let her shoulders hang with a sad sigh. "I feel...  
weird."  
"Weird how, sweetie?"  
"Whenever...", Linda interrupted herself, seemingly embarrassed. Eliza gave her the time she needed, simply sitting next to her, her hand on the Kryptonian's back. Linda swallowed. "Whenever I'm around Lena... It feels weird in my stomach. And when she kisses Kara, it... it hurts. Here."  
She pointed at the left side of her chest. Her heart.

Linda blinked a few uprising tears away. "Is there something wrong with me?"  
Eliza put her arm around her newest Daughter and smiled comfortingly. "No. There's nothing wrong with you. I think  
I know what's going on. You know from what you're saying... I think you might be in love with Lena."  
Linda looked up again. Hope of having an answer to her unknown feelings shimmering in her eyes. "Really?"  
She had assumed secretly that this might have been the case, as she had read about it in books. But she couldn't  
know for sure. She had tried asking Alex but there was always something disturbing or interrupting them. She  
had never gotten the chance of getting an answer.

Eliza nodded, taking the younger blonde's hand.  
"It would make sense. After all the love she feels for Alex got transferred from Kara to you, in the form of memorising her name. It's more than possible that her love for Lena got transmitted as well, just showing itself differently. Instead of remembering something specific about her, you feel a... a connection. A connection which finally lead to love too.", Eliza explained her theory.  
There were a few seconds of silence, then Eliza added: "You know, it's gonna be difficult for me to help you since I'm leaving in a few hours but I think you might want to tell Alex."  
Linda stayed quiet but she nodded lightly.

So when it was time for Eliza to go and she went to hug everyone, she stayed with her eldest daughter a little longer, whispering to her "You should talk to your sister."  
From what happend before, Alex could easily figure out that she meant Linda. She took a quick glance at the blonde and then just nodded silently at her mother. It might have only been about two weeks but she was already growing extremely protective of Linda, so if there was anything she could do to help, of course she would do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some little bit of fluff at the beginning and some Momma Danvers action at the end ^-^


	3. Chapter 17A

Alex glanced over at Linda every now and then, biting her lip. This was a good opportunity to talk to her actually. Kara was out on a date with Lena so she had the perfect chance to speak to her about what was going on. What had happened the day before as well as what her mother had said. >You should talk to your sister.<  
Her voice had made clear that something was up. Something serious, something that weighed on her newest sister.  
It was crazy how fast she had grown on her and how fast her protective big sister feelings were kicking in. It had only been about two weeks since they had saved her from that kryptonite blast.

No, she had to say something now. There might not be another time where she could talk to her in private soon. And it sounded like the help she needed was immediate.  
"Hey, Lin?", Alex spoke up.  
Linda looked up, curious to know what she was about to say.  
Alex chewed on her lip and simply just looked at her for a second before finally talking again.   
"So, I know something's up. You wanna talk about it?", she said gently.

Linda gulped. She seemed to think about lying, about finding an excuse. But then she sighed and lowered her head. "There is... something. Mom said it's... that I'm..."  
Alex just looked at her. She wasn't sure if she should just let her take the time until she was ready to say it or if she should give her a tiny nudge. She had her suspicions after all.   
She decided to choose the second option. "Does it... have to do with Lena?"

Linda's head turned rapidly into her direction, eyes widely opened.  
After a few seconds of silence, she nodded in defeat.  
"Does it have to do with that question you asked me recently? About the feeling of being in love?", Alex said quietly.  
Linda's hands started trembling a little and her eyes fixated on the ground between them. She nodded again.

"I guessed so, I just didn't know how to bring it up.", Alex sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She felt sorry for the blonde in front of her but she also felt conflicted. She wasn't sure how this situation could possibly be fixed. "Are you planning on telling Kara?"  
Linda looked up with panic in her eyes, shaking her head hastily. 

Alex frowned, stepping closer and laying a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you don't have to be afraid of doing it. Kara is so understanding and so caring. She wouldn't be mad if that's what you're worried about."  
"Are you sure?", she asked quietly after another few seconds of silence in which she continued to stare at the ground.

"Of course. In fact, I think she'll be relieved to know what's going on. Since you've been acting... unusual more often lately, she's been really worried. She wants to know what's going on, she wants to help you."  
Linda bit her lip. She stayed silent for awhile, then resigned. "Okay."

(Small time jump)

"Hey, Kara?", Alex said.  
"Yeah?", she smiled.  
"We gotta tell you something. Or well, Lin's gotta tell you something. I'm more or less just the emotional support."  
Kara blinked in confusion. "Um, okay. What's going on?"  
"Let's sit down, come on.", Alex said softly, walking over to Kara's couch where she sat down with Linda who was very quiet. 

Kara took place in an arm chair across from them, obviously dying to know what they had to tell her. She was just so very curious.  
But she pulled herself together, politely waiting for one of them to speak as she noticed that this seemed to be quite the serious conversation.   
"I-", Linda said, interrupting herself and gulping. She looked at Alex for support.  
"Go on. It's okay.", the brunette whispered.

Linda took a deep breath. She tried several times to speak but it seemed like her tongue was tied. She wasn't able to form a single word, let alone a sentence. Alex grabbed her hand, squeezing it to let her know that she would take over for her. She looked over to Kara who was growing more impatient, and worried too, by the second. 

"So, you know how Lin's only memory was my name when she was created through the Horun-El? Because our bond is just so strong?"  
Kara nodded. Of course she knew that. And how could she forget it? She didn't know what that could have to do with this conversation though.   
"Well, it seems like... our bond isn't the only strong one. And that my name wasn't the only thing which was transmitted from you to her. Lin also appears to have inherited... specific feelings from you."

Kara frowned. "What feelings?"  
Alex sighed. This was harder than she thought and it didn't even regard herself. But it had no use to walk on eggshelves or lengthen this unnecessarily. So she just took a breath and flat out said: "Love, Kara, romantic love. She feels the same kind of love which you have. For Lena."

Kara's eyes widened. She sat completely still for a few seconds. Then she slowly leaned backwards into the chair, her hand moving to her mouth - contemplating what she had just heard.   
Alex looked over at Linda who's eyes were fixated on the table, wanting to avoid any eye contact. She was still scared Kara might become mad because she was still traumatized from her time with Lex.

Suddenly, both Kryptonian's heads jerked to the door. Alex furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. It certainly sucked bring the only one without superhearing.  
A few seconds later however, the sound of a key in the door lock announced a visitor and since only one other person had a key apart from the three Danvers' sisters, it was clear who it was, even to the sister without powers like x-ray vision or superhearing. 

Kara had given Lena a key to her appartement as it was only fair that she could come in any time she wanted to, even if she currently out as Supergirl, because Kara could always easily fly in through the window of Lena's place, anytime that she had the desire to. And she wanted to share that opportunity, that privilege with Lena. 

Now, when said CEO came through the door, with a bright smile, she was quick to notice the tension in the room and her smile faltered a little. "Hey. Uh, did something happen?"  
Kara sighed. She definitely didn't want to hide anything from Lena, the last time she did that, it almost ruined everything. So she just opened her arms to signal her to come over which she did. She sat down on Kara's lap, awaiting the news.

As soon as they had explained everything again, Lena was, just as Kara before, stunned into silence. She chewed on her lip, deep in thought.  
Linda had shrunken together, obviously uncomfortable and terrified to the core of what the both were thinking. The only thing giving her comfort and keeping her from freaking out was Alex's hand rubbing her back.  
After what seemed like an eternity, Lena finally said something. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I can only think of one solution."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ^-^


	4. Chapter 18A

Kara ran a hand through her hair as she paced back and forth.  
Ever since Lena had made the suggestion an hour before, she felt like she was standing under an incredibly high voltage - not able to break the tension from her body.  
When she had told Lena about what was going on, what Alex had told her just minutes before, she had expected and envisioned a lot of different possibilities - how she might react, what she might say.  
However the reality of her reaction hadn't been of the possibilities from her mind. 

Alex, who had sensed Kara's shock and surprise at Lena's proposition, had realised that they should probably have a chat alone and took Linda out to take a walk - that also gave the blonde a chance to calm down a little as the whole part of telling them had been quite nervewrecking for her.

"I mean, if you think about it, it... it just makes sense. And it's not as crazy as one might think at the first second.", Lena said softly.  
"Yeah, I get that. I do. But... I don't know... I mean, a polyamorous relationship? You dating both me and my sister?", Kara said, doubt in her voice. "I don't know, isn't that a little... I don't know..."

"A little weird? Yeah, maybe.", Lena smiled understandingly. "I've never done anything like that either, Kara but... I feel like it's the only way right now. Considering the Horun-El's effect on her, it's safe to assume that she experiences the exact same feelings as you have. If we... deny her now to live them and embrace them, instead force her to hide them and ignore them... I think that might bring serious repercussions on her mental stability. You saw how she reacted at the dinner and that's just two weeks in. How will she possibly react to us in two months time?"

"I- Maybe... maybe they wear off after a while?", she stated helplessly, raising her arms and letting them fall again.  
Lena sighed, understanding her wish for that to happen. But she had to keep it real. "And what if they don't? I see and hear the way you act with her and talk about her, Kara. It's like she's always been your sister, your entire life not just a few weeks. Can you really let her live with that kind of heartbreak for who knows how long?"

Kara chewed on her lip, opened her mouth then closed it again. Then she closed her eyes and sighed deeply as she hung her head. "No, I can't. I- I'd never forgive myself if I knew I let her sink into misery while there could have been an easy way to help."

The corners of Lena's lips twitched. She got up from the armchair and walked over to Kara, taking her hands into her's.  
"I know. It's because you're a good person. The best person I know probably.", Lena smiled, moving her head forward to kiss her. After pulling away, she leaned her forehead against her's. Both of them automatically closed their eyes. 

But suddenly Kara noticed a slight change in Lena's behavior. She heard her heart starting to pound a little heavier against her chest. The brunette gulped before finally saying something.  
"Besides...", Lena added and she looked down, chewing on her lip.  
Kara tilted her head. "What is it, Lee?"  
"Linda isn't the only one who's experiencing... these feelings. I mean I don't feel them as intensely. I wouldn't say it's love. Well, yet. I don't know if it's just because she looks exactly like you or... or if it's something else. I feel like it's about more than just looks. I feel... attracted to her. I never said anything the past weeks or showed any signs because we just got together and I didn't want to possibly ruin everything by seemingly falling for your twin sister. Like that would have been kinda brutal. And yes, I know, we promised no more secrets after everything that happened with your secret identity.", Lena sighed, looking up now. "I just didn't want things to be awkward. And when Lin started acting so strange around us, I actually thought it's because she didn't like me at all for some reason and that just made me want to say anything even less."

Kara blinked, obviously not having expected such a confession. She chewed on her own lip for a few seconds and then sighed.  
"Well, then I really can't say anything about it. I don't want either of you to feel like you're missing something. And I won't lose anything in the process. I'll still have you. I'll still have Lin... The only thing changing is that you two will be a lot happier too."  
Lena smiled brightly and nodded.

"Yes. It won't change anything between us. You'll still be my hero, Kara. You'll still be the person I fell in love with... well, in the first place.", Lena whispered. "I'll just give my love to the both of you. Equally. But that doesn't mean I will love you any less because of it."  
"Yeah, I... I know. It's just... I don't even really know what it is, I-", Kara mumbled.  
Lena interrupted her with a slight chuckle. "Don't worry, I think that's just a good old, healthy amount of jealousy, you're feeling. It'll probably fade with time."

Kara replied with a chuckle of her own. "I guess you're right."  
"Oh, I'm a very smart woman. I'm definitely right.", Lena smirked.  
Kara shook her head, laughing quietly before cupping Lena's face. "Of course you are. I'm never doubting that. And if you think that this will be the best solution, then I'm a hundred percent behind that idea. I would believe you with anything.", she said quietly and leaned forward to kiss her again. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Roughly an hour later, Lena was sitting across from Linda who was visibly shaking. She had just explained what they would be doing - what they would be trying out, all three of them together.  
But before they seriously went deeper into this, Lena wanted to show her what it was like to kiss. It was something which Linda would need to learn and adjust to. What the blonde wanted to learn and adjust to - since she always had the intense wish to go through with it since the first time she saw Kara kiss her.

"Um, so, what- what do I do?", Linda asked with insecurity as she fidgeted with her fingers. She was swallowing hardly every now and then as if trying to loosen a knot in her throat.  
Lena smiled and placed a comforting hand on Linda's arm which caused the eyes of the blonde to widen. Lena felt the rapid rising and sinking of Linda's body as a cause of her heavy breathing under her hand.

When she spoke, she tried to make her voice sound as soothing and gentle as she possibly could. Though she was actually a little nervous herself. This would be the moment where she would possibly figure out whether that attraction was definitely there. Whether her suspicion of possibly falling for Linda too would be correct. "It's quite easy, to be honest. For now, you can just sit here, if you like. I'll guide you through it. You'll know when you're ready. And if it gets uncomfortable or you don't want it anymore, just say so and we'll stop. Okay?"  
Linda gulped and nodded.  
Lena gave a last reassuring smile, then she gently moved her hand to Linda's cheek and came closer. 

The blonde felt her heart pick up even more rapidly in speed and intensity than it had before. She almost believed it would burst out of her chest any second. She could barely hold herself still, feeling the need to jump up and hide somewhere from these strange feelings taking over her - preferably her twin sister's arms which always managed to make her feel safe and secure. 

Even though, as established, she did want this, she had longed for it for a while. But now, that it was actually happening, she felt incredibly nervous and weird. She couldn't even sort out her thoughts, just felt incredibly overwhelmed.  
And then suddenly, Lena's lips were on her's and abruptly interrupted her racing thoughts.

And all the tension and the nervousness just fell off of her like they had never been there to begin with. She didn't know how to describe how she felt. It was certainly nothing that she ever felt before.  
She just barely registered how her body seemed to relax on it's own, then how her own hands found their way to Lena's cheeks as if they knew exactly what to do. Her eyes fluttered shut as her own lips started moving. As if that knowledge had been passed onto her as well.  
Lena herself also felt herself relaxing. She hadn't even noticed that she had tensed up in anticipation. She could definitely no longer deny it. Though she hadn't tried to do that in the first place. She was certain now that those feelings weren't just imaginary, that the connection between them wasn't just imaginary. She did feel something for Linda - for both Kara and Linda at the same time. Though she wouldn't call the attraction to Linda love yet, maybe something like a heavy crush? It was just too soon to call it love. But it was something. And they could go from there. That had been the first time Linda had ever kissed Lena - or anyone for that matter. And she felt amazing. She felt whole.

And Lena didn't feel bad herself after her first kiss with Linda - in fact, ehe felt pretty damn good too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is at least kinda realistic? I wasn't really sure how to write this one😬
> 
> Edit: I edited this chapter after it was brought to my attention that it gives the message that you should date someone just because they like you, even though you don't have feelings for them. That's not my intention. I was so wrapped in what I know is gonna happen (Lena loving them both with all her heart), that I didn't recognize what it might look like to others. Since you guys obviously don't know what I know. Sorry about that. I hope this change makes it less problematic - hopefully not problematic at all actually! The least thing I wanna do is send a wrong message!


	5. Chapter 19A

Admittedly, it had been an adjustment. Not just for Kara and Lena but for everyone around them as well.  
It had been obvious that Kara hadn't been too fond of the idea when Lena first suggested it. Sure, she had been delighted that her girlfriend was so supportive of her sister and wanted her to be happy, because she did of course wish for her to have happiness too. But a polyamorous relationship wasn't exactly what she had imagined to be the solution.   
She had felt like maybe she was selfish for not wanting to share Lena. And for feeling like it was unfair.  
It had taken such a long time for them to finally get together - and now she didn't even get her to herself?

And even when she had let Lena explain her reasoning for the idea and she had actually seen the point she was trying to make, she was still a little unsure of it. She had agreed, had given her content to this kind of relationship and she stood behind her decision.   
But she still felt that nagging feeling of strangeness and slight discomfort - she still felt the jealousy rise up inside her, especially when Lena had told her that she would show Linda what it was like to kiss someone.

She knew she'd need to get used to that. There would be a lot more times where Lena and her twin sister kissed. There would be times where they would kiss in front of her so she knew she had to learn to keep the jealousy at bay.   
However she didn't actually need to do that. As it turned out the feeling of jealousy ebbed away after a few days time only.

She had pretty soon realised that her worries and those bad feelings were for nothing. It wasn't as bad as she originally thought, in fact it was great.  
It was good to know that two of her favorite people were happy.  
It was heartwarming to know that Lena finally got all the love she deserved after living such a gruesome life in the shadow of her last name - when Kara thought about it that way, she knew that having two people who truly loved her deeply must be such a reassuring feeling for her. 

Plus, it was comforting to know that if she couldn't be there for Lena, someone else - Linda - was, with the same amount of love and dedication as herself. Someone with the same powers to protect her in case something happend and Kara couldn't be there in time.   
There wasn't any reason for jealousy. And she didn't even need to try to surpress it. She realised once she saw Lena and Linda kiss one day and the only feeling that rose up inside of her was contentment.  
Thus, she grew to actually like the situation a lot much faster than she thought she might and the other two seemed to experience the same feeling.

Linda started growing a lot calmer over the following days. She was less tense and she seemed much happier - though she had been happy before just having been accepted as a part of the Danvers family.   
Both Kara and Lena were happy to see this change - this very positive change.

And some people might think it was like dating the same person twice for Lena since they were exact doppelgangers if each other but their personalities did differentiate quite a bit. They were their own people with their own needs, their own preferences, their own minds.  
But they harmonized well, very well so that being in a relationship with both of them didn't become a problem at all.  
It actually became... normal pretty quickly.  
At least for the three of them.

The others, like Alex, James, J'onn or the agents at the DEO needed a little longer to adapt to it.  
Seeing Lena walk into the DEO, holding both blondes' hands and kissing both of them. Hearing her talk about her girlfriends instead of just a girlfriend. Having them flirt, cuddle and go on dates as a "group".   
It wasn't the easiest concept to grasp for most of them. 

Alex adjusted to it the fastest, just happy that both her little sisters had found happiness - and who was she to judge really when all Kara ever showed for her was support and understanding?  
Nia and Brainy were amongst those coming to terms with it in a fast pace too.  
Nia was supportive because she had herself experienced enough discrimination for being part of the LGBT+ community and would never wish that on anyone else, especially not some of her closest friends - also in general, she was just a way too kind hearted person to condemn something as simple as love.  
Brainy however was in favor of it because he could say with an assurance of 99% that this was the best possible solution to make sure that all three of them were happy and that was what he wanted for his friends. After all, who would he be if he were to defy logic?

And with time, the others came to accept it too. They didn't stare or whisper anymore. They didn't wonder or raise their eyebrows anymore.  
Until one day, it just stopped being something that needed to be accepted and became just something that simply existed, no questions asked. At some point, it became normal for them too.

And after several weeks, not even the outside world or reporters cared anymore that Lena Luthor was walking around with two girlfriends in public and just let them live their lives.   
For the first time in a long time, all of them were truly happy. They decided to enjoy it while it lasted since in their life, nothing seemed to stay good for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing in the last few sentences? Maybe? ^-^


	6. Chapter 20

"I promise you'll love the bar. We're going there quite often to just let off some steam and enjoy ourselves. It's become a regular meeting spot for the Superfriends.", Kara told Linda excitedly while they walked to said alien bar which had become more than just an alien bar over the last months. More and more humans found their way to it.

Lena walked in between them, holding each of their hands.   
Linda nodded attentively while slightly swinging the hand which was holding Lena's - a soft smile rested on her lips, her steps seemed to be quite light-footed.  
She really felt such a big relief and peace ever since Lena had made the proposition of dating her - dating them both. Ever since she had first kissed her. 

The jabbing pain which she had felt in her chest everytime she had seen her with Kara or even just on her own was gone. Just like the weird feeling in her stomach. Now she felt levelled and calm. She felt at ease.

Plus right now, she had to admit she was also pretty curious about this place they were about to go to. Kara had been gushing about it for the past quarter hour, telling some stories that happened there as well as telling her about the karaoke nights they often spent there - of course telling her they would have to take her to karaoke night soon enough too since that was an experience a Superfriend just had to have.

As they arrived, most of their group was already collected inside around a table. Alex smiled brightly, hugging both of her sisters as a greeting before returning to Kelly's side.   
J'onn, James and Brainy gave a collective hello, making them all smile a little.  
Only Nia was missing but she arrived soon after as well when they had just dived into a heated conversation.

"Hey, what's up?", the brunette asked as she arrived at the table.  
Without even giving any kind of greeting, as she was too excited for that, Kara instantly had to tell her what they had just been speaking about.  
"There's an ice skating rink opening in National City or well close by at least and we're all gonna go! We even convinced James and Brainy to come along! I mean, J'onn's being a killjoy but-", Kara replied while brightly smiling and interrupting herself when J'onn gave her a look. She rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Okay, fine. He's too busy so that's why he can't come. But you'll join us, right?"  
"Sure, I'd love to! I really like ice skating.", Nia said happily.   
"Nice!", Kara exclaimed.

Linda patted the last empty free seat which was next to her so her friend would finally be able to sit down.  
As soon as she did, Linda automatically raised her fist - it had become a habit. Nia chuckled as she gave her the fistbump, really amused by the way it had become so much of a habit.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few days later, it was time to actually go through with the activity.  
They met in front of the building, waiting until they were complete.   
Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Linda was once again wearing the black leather jacket which she had gifted to her some time ago. There wasn't any other possible choice for her anymore, it was the only jacket she wore ever since then. And Alex thought it was pretty adorable that it seemed to mean so much to her. She also kind of felt honored about it in a way.

As they were finally all present, they went inside.  
After they had all put on their shoes, they were moving towards the rink und one by one they stepped onto it.  
Most of them slithered a little. Kelly and Alex were tightly holding onto each other, trying to hold their respective girlfriend upright. Though it wasn't necessarily clear who was supporting who as both seemed a little wobbly.  
James mumbled a string of expletives as he wildly threw his arms around, trying to stay on his feet. His face clearly showed the regret of ever agreeing to do this in the first place.  
Brainy was meanwhile gliding over the ice with grace and elegance - though they all secretly thought the same thing; that surely had something to do with the gravity-defying legion ring on his finger.  
Nia came on after, pretty safely sliding across the ice as well and having less difficulties in keeping her balance than most of them.

Kara and Lena told the others to move ahead as they waited for Linda who had yet to step onto the ice.  
She stopped in front of the rink, tilting her head and not seeming to trust the whole thing very much. She appeared a little helpless.   
The two of them both held out a hand each for Linda to hold onto.  
The latter swallowed, just looking at them for a while, apparently debating whether she could dare try it.  
Finally she ended up taking the their hands and very carefully stepping onto the ice. She instantly slipped and her eyes widened but her sister and Lena kept her steady.   
They just stayed on the spot for a while until Linda seemed secure enough to start moving. 

And it actually went pretty well.  
While they were a little slower than the others and there were some moments where they almost slipped, they were keeping up quite well.   
At some point, they felt secure enough to spin around, have a little fun and try to speed up a little.   
Then they were finally able to catch up to the rest of their group and though some of them were still very unsteady, they ended up really enjoying themselves and having a good time. 

They stayed a whole while longer until finally deciding to leave.   
While the guys pretty much left instantly, the women of the group decided to finish the day by going to get some ice cream - quite the fitting snack for an activity like that, they thought.   
They walked together for awhile, bringing each of them home safely and leading a little small talk on the way.   
Until there were only the twins left to return to their appartement.   
As they arrived home, they let themselves fall on the couch.  
And when they went to bed, Linda and Kara both felt very content about the events of that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you read both, you'll realise quickly that this part was already in Version A. I just adjusted it to fit the different storyline so there's still quite a lot of differences. Just so you won't wonder ^-^


	7. Chapter 21A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna warn there's gonna be some extremely cheesy Harry Potter puns near the second half of the chapter because I really wanted to have them introduce it to Linda and didn't know how else to do it xD  
> I hope you're into puns. Otherwise the scene isn't very long so I hope you'll forgive me haha.

"No, like seriously, you deserve it, Kara. That article was groundbreaking. I'm so proud of you.", Alex said.   
Kara smiled as her cheeks blushed a little.   
"As am I.", Lena whispered with a smirk and raised her head from her place on Kara's shoulder to press a kiss on her cheek. "A pulitzer is a pretty big deal and there's no one who deserves it more."

"Aw, Lee.", Kara blushed more deeply as she gently kissed her on the lips. Then she giggled quietly. "You know, I still can't believe though that you're gonna be the one who introduces me."  
"I wouldn't miss this chance for the world. I can't wait to tell everyone just how wonderful my girlfriend is.", Lena replied, fully savoring the word "girlfriend". She turned to Linda who was sitting on her other side and was contently playing with Lena's fingers. She pressed a kiss on her temple, making the blonde beam brightly - Lena always wanted to make sure that she wouldn't feel excluded or anything.

"Hey, we get it. You guys are cute. Disgustingly adorable. You can stop it now.", Alex commented, the amusement in her voice making clear she was just kidding. She tightened her arm around her own girlfriend, Kelly, who was sitting next to her on the couch. Admittedly, it did get a little stuffed on the couch with five people - they would probably have to move to one of the armchairs at some point to get a little more space.

All three chuckled a little at Alex's statement.  
The two blondes rested their heads against Lena's - since leaning their foreheads against each other didn't really work with three people, at least not if all three were supposed to be included.

The five of them were having a girl's night. They did want to invite Nia too and they actually did but she had a date with Brainy - if you could call it that, considering Brainy's kind of awkward behavior at times, which made it impossible for her to come.  
And in handsight, they all thought it might be for the better. It would probably be a little awkward to be the only one without a romantic aquaintance in the appartement - though she was in a relationship with Brainy but since he obviously wouldn't be there at a girl's night, she would still be the third wheel.

They had meanwhile all drank a little and were becoming a little tipsy. Kara and Linda were of course the only ones who felt no effect but they took great pleasure in hearing them talk in that condition.   
"I mean seriously, what do you think mom's thinking? She's got three kids, three daughters to be exact, and they're all into girls. How crazy is that? What are the _odds_?", Alex ranted, chuckling in between. 

The rest of them shook their heads in amusement.   
"Well, hey... I guess, you're just not a true Danvers sister unless you're at least a little bit gay, so... We should put up a contract and make that a condition.", Alex added, shrugging a bit and raising the glass to her lips.  
Kara laughed loudly at that statement and raised her own wine glass too. "I'll drink to that."

She swung it a little too closely by Kelly's and Alex's faces, at which point Alex took the chance and exclaimed: "Kara, you're going to take someone's eye out."  
"Besides you're doing it wrong.", Kelly finished under her breath, making Alex grin brightly.

"Seriously? You guys are _riddikulus_.", Kara chuckled, barely able to surpress the happiness about getting the chance of making these terribly cheesy puns.  
"Don't you mean _siriusly_?", Lena said nonchalantly, looking down at her fingernails.  
Kara looked at her with wide eyes and Lena turned her head, starting to smirk.  
"What?"  
"I didn't know it was possible to love you even more but apparently it is.", the blonde stated flabbergasted, to which Lena simply laughed.

Linda was meanwhile tilting her head and looking very confused. "I don't understand."  
"Oh that's just some Harry Potter references.", Kara explained.  
Linda frowned. "Who's Harry Potter?"  
Kara's and Alex's faces fell, grimacing in shame as the realisation dawned on them.  
"Oh my god, we didn't show you Harry Potter yet.", they said in perfect unison, making it almost a little creepy.   
Alex slapped a hand on her leg as she stated: "Well, we've got to make up for that."  
Kara's eyes widened in excitement and she raised both fists into the air. "Harry Potter marathon!"

Linda was obviously confused about the sudden change of topic and the fuss everyone made as they scrambled around, preparing the couch as well as an armchair with pillows and blankets.   
Kara had rushed away to get the movie discs and continued to walk over to the TV to get that ready. 

While Alex and Kelly had made the armchair their own, the other three cuddled together on the couch.  
Kara placed her arm around Lena, who was leaning against her and was gently stroking Linda's hair as the latter had curled up next to her and rested her head in Lena lap.  
As the first movie started, Alex and Kara hummed along to the soundtrack of Hedwig's Theme, making the other three women chuckle, both in amusement as well as adoration for these geeks.

Linda seemed to genuinely enjoy the movie, though she got up from her curled up position near the end and instead cuddled into Lena's arm as the tension started to rise in the plot.  
Lena softly smiled down at her.   
She had no words for the adoration she felt for her. With each day, she noticed how the simple attraction to her growled into something more, into something deeper. She really did feel herself falling for her. Falling for her too. Because the love she felt for Kara didn't lose any of it's strength or power.  
She never really believed that it would be possible to actually love two people at once but here she was. 

She turned her head slightly to Kara who looked at her upon noticing the movement.   
The little shimmer in her eyes showed Kara that this really had been a great decision. Not only was Linda happy, Lena was too - having two people love her so unconditionally had a great impact on her, after all the betrayal in her life.  
Kara gave her a soft kiss on the forehead before both returned their attention to the TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I've also wanted to mention, there are a few aspects from the canon show I'm putting in, like Kara getting a pulitzer. But the whole plot with Crisis and Leviathan won't find its way in here because I'll be honest I have no idea how to incorperate that. But since it's an AU, that shouldn't matter too much ^-^  
> Anyway, hope you're enjoying the chapter:))


	8. Chapter 22A

Kara, Lena and Linda entered the hall together, having their arms linked into each other's. Lena walked in the middle with one twin of each of her arms.   
And those two even matched colorwise.  
However while Kara wore a blue dress, Linda wore a blue suit - simply not the type for dresses. She had experienced wearing a skirt once when she was forced to impersonate Supergirl and she was certain that she didn't want to wear something like it ever again. Lucky enough, Lena was an expert in getting good quality suits, as she oftentimes prefered those too, even if she was wearing a red dress now.

Kara gaped at the hall.  
"Wow, this... this is a very big room and that's a lot of people.", Kara stated, chuckling a little unsteadily.  
Linda tilted her head. "You're nervous."  
"What? Nooo. I'm- I'm completely fine.", Kara replied. Her voice grew high-pitched.  
"Your heartbeat says something else.", Linda said.

Kara opened and closed her mouth a few times before pursing her lips.  
Lena laughed quietly. "Well, darling, Lin's not wrong. I may not have superhearing but I can still tell you're nervous. You don't have to be though. Remember, you earned this."  
She placed a hand on her arm and Kara sighed with a smile before nodding. 

"Hey, guys!", Alex exclaimed, suddenly appearing next to them, accompanied by Kelly.   
They all greeted back simultaneously.  
"Kara. Congratulations.", Kelly said softly.  
"Thank you!", Kara smiled.  
"By the way, can I just say I'm incredibly glad that you got those bangs because now I can finally tell you and Linda apart.", Kelly chuckled, apparently a bit embarrassed.  
All of them couldn't help the little laugh erupting from their throats.  
"Yeah, we've actually heard that a few times now.", Kara admitted, looking over at Linda. "We do look very alike."

"That's an understatement. You're basically clones!", Kelly responded.  
All remaining four surpressed the snort that wanted to escape. Kelly luckily didn't seem to notice.  
Kara and Linda simply grinned at each other.   
If only she knew.  
They talked for a little while longer until Alex spoke up.

"Well, we would stay longer but Kelly's been bugging me about dancing almost an hour before we met you guys, so-", Alex trailed off with blushed cheeks.  
They chuckled.   
"Sure, go knock yourselves out.", Kara laughed.  
With those words, Kelly led Alex away.

"Oh, before I have to go-", Lena said suddenly, grabbing both their hands and pulling them along until finding a more secluded space. "I still have something to give you."  
Kara smiled. "You know that's not necessary."  
"It is.", Lena smirked. "Because it's your new suit."  
"My what?", Kara asked surprised.  
"Brainy and I worked on a new suit for you. I'm sure you'll find great pleasure in it.", Lena explained with a smile. She turned towards Linda. "I need that box now."  
Linda nodded and pulled out a little case from her pants. She was the only one who had been able to carry it as she was the only one with pockets.

She handed it to Lena.   
When she opened it however, there was apparently nothing there, making Kara raise an eyebrow. Before she could ask, Lena explained.   
"It's a microscopic motion activator. That means it's very small, making it not visible to the eye, not even yours. But I promise it is still as effective nonetheless.", she carefully put her finger inside before placing it on the side of Kara's glasses. The blonde blinked. "Now you'll just have to be careful when you take your glasses off because as soon as whip them off, your suit will materialise. Or de-materialise as needed."  
"M-materalise? You mean like Lin's suit?", she asked with wide eyes.  
Lena nodded. "Yes."  
"Cool!", she grinned, turning to her twin who smiled just as big.

"Ms Luthor, there you are. You're on in five minutes.", an attendant announced as he took quick steps forward.   
"Alright, thank you. I'll be right there.", Lena smiled.  
The attendant nodded and disappeared again.   
"Well, I'll see you on stage.", Lena told Kara before giving her a quick kiss. She turned to Lin who also received one of those. "And I'll see you in the crowd."  
With those words, Lena left them and made her way to prepare.  
Kara looked at Linda. "Well, we better get going too, I guess."  
She grabbed her hand and they made their way to their older sister as well as their friends.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"The world is full of liars. People who hide things from us. People who manipulate and control us. I should know. Some of the best liars in the world are members of my own family. But in my life, there was someone who always reminded me that truth was the better way. And she is the person we are here tonight to celebrate. She's not just my longterm best friend but as of recently she is also my girlfriend - one of my girlfriends. Kara Danvers."

Kara smiled brightly as the first round of applause erupted from the crowd.   
Alex nudged her shoulder with a grin.

"The truth isn't easy. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. But it is something that Kara, as a journalist, has pursued relentlessly every day. And because she's so good at it, she makes it look easy. We sometimes forget that she's just like us. But forging a path to the truth isn't a piece of cake. It's more like climbing a mountain. It's arduous and painful at times, and just like us, Kara can sometimes slip. But she always gets back up and pulls through in the end. And we're always better for her efforts. So, thank you, Kara, for reminding us that the truth is important. Even when it's not always easy to accept."

Kara took a deep breath as she wiped her eyes. "Rao, I hope this make up is waterproof.", she mumbled.  
Linda, who's superhearing caused her to be only one able to hear that statement, chuckled and patted her shoulder.   
Then Kara finally went to the front with another round of applause behind her back. As she arrived next to Lena, she was met with a short but passionate kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh, I wanted to rewrite the speech but I couldn't think of anything. So I just left it the way it's in the show.


	9. Chapter 23A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a very abrupt beginning because I seriously couldn't come up with a nice introductory part or something haha. Sorry but I hope it doesn't bother too much!

They were having a completely normal day when a group of people, completely dressed in black, including black masks, stormed into the media empire. They were armed with guns. Somehow CatCo was quite the unsafe place lately.  
The workers of the floor instantly started screaming and scattering, trying to find a place to hide which was hard to do in a wide, open room. 

Kara and Linda's eyes met and they nodded. They had to try to get out so Supergirl and Red Daughter could get in. However the masked people spread quickly, blocking the doors.  
The twins came together, both thinking deeply and hastily about how they could possibly get out of there.   
At that moment, one of the people stepped into the middle of the room. It must have been a woman as she was rather petite and there were visible curves visible through the thick layer of black clothing. The little curl of blonde hair looked out of the mask. 

Then Kara noticed that one of the door's guards was starting to become unattentive, or at least not as attentive as before. She pulled Linda along as they sneaked their way around along the wall until they finally rushed out of the room to change.  
Coming back seconds later in their suits, ready to take on the fight. 

"You're taking the one on this side, I take the one on this side?", Kara questioned and Linda nodded, rushing off.  
The woman who had stepped into the middle before and seemed to be some sort of a leader of this group turned to her now.   
"There you are. I've been waiting for you.", she said. Her voice was being distorted - a voice changer so that to mean that she wanted to avoid being possibly recognized at all costs. Maybe she knew her? Kara didn't have much time to consider it as she rose a gun at her and fired. 

Kara had luck that she decided to catch it instead of letting it bounce off of her as she would sometimes do. Because as soon as she held the little bullet in her hand, she saw the green shimmer and felt the dizziness, the weakness - kryptonite.   
Kryptonite bullets.   
Kara furrowed her eyebrows in shock and threw it away to get it away from herself before dodging yet another bullet.  
At that point another man attacked her simultaneously. She moved away under his arm and scanned the room to find her sister. She had to warn her.  
"Careful, Red, they have kryptonite bullets!", Kara exclaimed as she dodged the man's weapon and rammed her elbow into his temple, knocking him out.

Across the room, Linda gave only a nod as she twisted one of the men's arms, letting it crack in a very ugly way.   
Kara pulled a face at the sound but shook the feeling off.   
She added in a whisper, which was more to herself than anyone else, and with a slight frown: "Wherever the hell they got those from."  
She couldn't debate much where they came from, she needed to stop these people before others got hurt.  
She rushed forward to the woman. She should deal with her first if she really was the leader. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Nia licked her lips nervously and stepped closer to one of the masked people, raising the stapler she was holding just a little higher. She wouldn't be able to get out and change into her Dreamer suit but she could still be a badass and do something useful, right?  
She breathed deeply before taking a swing and hitting it on the man's head with full force. Sadly, that didn't have the effect she had wished for.   
While he did grunt in pain and swayed a bit, he did stay on his feet. He turned around. Apparently the only thing she had managed to do was make him angry. 

Nia caught his arms as he was taking his own swing back at her and rang with him for awhile. He had onbviously a much bigger physical strength than her. She wouldn't be able to take a stand much longer - he was already forcing her to take steps backward to keep herself on her feet.  
Suddenly, one of the blondes stood behind him.  
"That's my friend you're fighting there. And I protect my friends.", Linda stated before he was knocked out by her. He hit the floor with an ugly thud.   
She looked down at him and nodded once in approvement of her work.   
She took a glance at Nia. "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah. Thanks.", Nia smiled.   
Linda nodded once before joining her sister again. 

Apparently the attacking group had run out of kryptonite bullets and the leader seemed to recognize that there were already too of her men many knocked out - too many beaten. They were losing. She gave a frustrated groan before screaming out a "Retreat!"  
Kara was already thinking about how they would possibly want to be able to escape when two kryptonians with superspeed were present.   
However she was taken off guard when all them pressed a simple button on their watches and disappeared in a portal.   
Teleportation devices. And they were very familiar too. The question which was caused by this:  
How the hell did they get Lex Luthor's technology?

Kara blinked a few times in confusion.   
Then she pulled herself together and made eye contact with her sister again, to which they both shot out of CatCo's window and sneaked back in just a few seconds later as Kara and Linda Danvers.  
They walked across the room to get to Nia.   
"Who were those people?", the brunette asked.  
"No idea.", Kara replied. "But we should figure that out quickly and capture them. They seemed pretty determined. And they wanted Supergirl and Red Daughter. They didn't care at all about the other workers here."  
"For some reason, I don't have a good feeling about this.", Nia said quietly.  
"Yeah. Me neither.", Kara responded as she bit her lip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh-oh
> 
> Btw, this scene will be in the other version too at some point, just with a lot more Linda x Nia


	10. Chapter 24A

It had been a few months in total since Lena and Kara had gotten together.  
A lot had happened in that time - the most striking one being the development of feelings between Lena and Linda as well, leading to them getting into a polyamorous relationship. Something neither of the three had ever thought they would get into. Though it turned out to be one of the best things they ever did.

But Lena had been wringing with a specific thought for a while now. She just didn't know how to address it. However she knew she wanted to finally talk about it so one day she finally pulled herself together and brought herself to do it.

"Kara, there's... there's something I wanted to ask you.", Lena said. She seemed nervous which automatically made Kara nervous too.   
"Sure. What's up?", Kara questioned, with furrowed eyebrows.  
Lena took her hands. "Let's sit down for this one."   
"Oh wow. Sounds serious.", Kara said, with a slightly distressed chuckle.  
"Kind of is.", Lena admitted with a sheepish smile. 

When they had sat down, Lena fidgeted with her hands.  
"What's wrong, sunshine?"   
"It's nothing wrong, per say, it's just... I've been thinking.", Lena said, looking up into Kara's eyes. "I've been thinking, maybe Linda and you could move into my appartment."  
Kara's eyes widened.  
"It's nothing against yours. You know how much I love it. It's just... not the biggest. It's more than enough for two but it does get a little... stuffy for three. Mine is a lot bigger. And my bed is too if you know what I mean.", Lena smirked a little, looking back down at her hands.

Kara took a deep breath.  
She was conflicted.  
She wanted to move in with Lena, of course she did. Living with her girlfriend and her sister together? A dream.   
But that appartement was her home, it had been for years after being passed down to her by Alex. It was special. She had so many good memories in her appartement - from spending time with her older sister to countless game nights with her friends. She started being Supergirl in this appartement - she had tried on the first versions of costumes there and Winn had looked for crimes she could stop from there.

"It's okay if you need time to think about it.", Lena said softly, moving her hand to Kara's face and stroking her cheek with her thumb. "It's no rush."  
"I'll have to talk with Lin about it, I can't just decide for her but...", Kara thought for a second. And when she listened to her heart, she knew what she wanted. She knew what the right thing to do for her was. "But as far as I'm concerned, I would love nothing more than to move in with you."

Not long after, Kara had talked to Linda who was absolutely delighted about the fact she would get to wake up next to Lena everyday. She only had one worry - and Kara was quick to take that worry away from her with an amused laugh.   
Linda didn't want to leave the red blanket behind as it had really grown on her.   
She had used it when she first looked around the appartement (under Lex's control) and learned more about the Danvers' - and Lena obviously.  
She had been wrapped into it on the first day as Kara and Alex's sister - on their movie night.  
She had cuddled into it almost every chance she got since then and it had almost become something like a security blanket.  
So, as soon as Kara assured her that there was absolutely no problem in taking the blanket with them, Linda was sold on the idea.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For many people, moving was a pain in the ass.   
It was quite the advantage when the people who were moving were two kryptonians with superspeed and superstrength though. The things that were supposed to go with them were packed quite quickly and also transported very fast.   
The whole process took at most an hour. And that only because there was stuff which Kara couldn't decide on if it should stay or come along. They could have been even faster if it wasn't for those difficulties of choosing.

When they were finally ready and Kara stood in the doorframe of her, former, appartement, she couldn't help but feel the nostalgia rising inside of her. She would miss this place. And though, she knew that it was just a place and that she would still keep all the good memories regardless, it was still hard to part from it.   
Linda didn't have that problem. She had only lived there for a few months and though she liked the appartment, she obviously didn't feel the same kind of connection that Kara felt to it. 

"Are you ready?", Linda asked, as she stood next to her. She was holding the folded red blanket closely to her chest, having refused to send it ahead and wanting to make sure it really arrived at Lena's place, which would be theirs now as well, safely.   
Kara took a deep breath and then turned to her twin sister with a smile. "Yeah. I am."  
And with those words, she took a last glance at the space which had been her home for so long before then turning around and closing the door behind her.   
This would be a completely new chapter in her life.

(1961 Schaffenberger Way, Suite 23 - Lena's place)

"Hey, you two.", Lena smiled brightly, meeting both of them with a kiss.   
"Hey.", Kara and Linda said simultaneously.   
Lena held open the door and they stepped in.   
It really did feel different. For the first time, they weren't walking in as visitors of a friend, or as of a few months girlfriend, but as residents. This was their home now.  
And while there was a nervous feeling, there was also a lot of excitement. It was a thrilling experience. It was a step further in their relationship. 

Linda was the first to move forward, waddling ahead to the couch to place down the red blanket which she had been holding protectively the entire time with an iron handle. As soon as it was laying on the couch, a proud smile formed on Linda's face and she nodded approvingly - Kara and Lena who had watched from the entrance could only grin in amusement. 

Lena grabbed Kara's hand and dragged her along with her as they headed for the couch too. There they sat down beside Linda, one on each side.   
They looked at each other from across the other blonde and with a silent agreement, they both raised their hands in a synchronized way and began tickling Linda mercilessly.   
The kryptonian started squealing before breaking out into loud laughter to which the other two tuned in too as they passed this happy time.  
Not aware that it wouldn't last much longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of angst starting next chapter. I'm sorry haha.


	11. Chapter 25A

It had been a normal mission, it was supposed to be a normal quickly solved mission. Nothing too special.  
There were a few aliens who were under attack and since aliens were involved, the DEO automatically took notice of it. Alex asked her two Supersisters if they were fine dealing with that problem by themselves and as J'onn had been paying a visit at the time too, he decided to tag along. Get a little justice done.

The attackers were quickly taken care off and the aliens left, luckily mostly without injuries, though with quite the shock, after thanking them throughoutly.  
That was when it happend.  
As soon as they were gone, a big black van pulled up. As if that wasn't suspicious enough, the door slid open and five armed men jumped out, instantly attacking the three - making it probability that they had been expecting them, waiting for them even.   
They were dressed in black, including black masks. The chance was high that they belonged to the same type of group which had come into CatCo some time ago.

For awhile, the trio had the upper hand and it seemed like they would be beating the attackers, coming out as winners.   
Suddenly though, one of the men stood behind Linda, a needle with a bright green liquid in his hand. Before anyone could react, he had already pushed it into the skin of her neck. Kryptonite. Linda sucked in a sharp breath of air as eyes were already quickly starting to flutter shut. Her body became limp, making it easy for the attacker to grab her under her armpits and drag her away.

"No!", Kara screamed, as she finally fought her own attacker off and pushed him away. Panic was rising inside of her without even wanting to. She was about to set off to fight the man, who was now harshly pulling her her sister along, trying to get her to the van. To bring her to safety. That was when two strong arms grabbed her from behind and lifted her up into the air, flying her higher and higher. She struggled hardly against his grip, wanting to break free.

"J'onn, let me go! I have to help her! Let me go! I have to help her!", Kara yelled repeatedly.  
"You're no use to her if they capture you too.", J'onn said, sorrowfully, truly sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, Supergirl."  
Tears of depair burned in Kara's eyes as she continued struggling and fighting against his embrace, making it hard for him to keep her at bay. But she didn't manage to escape his protective hold. She could only watch as the men yelled angrily about the fact that they only caught one, then as they threw her sister into the van and shut the door to drive off. 

When they returned to the DEO, Kara's eyes were red and puffy and she couldn't even look at the Martian beside her.  
Alex came up to them, seemingly in a good mood. "Another mission accomplished. Good job, guys. Thanks for jumping in. I-", she broke off when she saw Kara's face. Her eyes quickly searched the space in front of her. A dark shadow fell over her face. "Where... where's Lin?"  
Kara sniffled. "I- I couldn't help her. They took her. They had kryptonite. They injected it into her. I wanted to help but- but J'onn-"

"Did what needed to be done to prevent you from getting caught too.", J'onn interrupted with crossed arms.  
Kara whipped around to him. "You had no right to decide that! I could have helped her!", she cried.   
"You don't know that."  
"Yes, I do!", Kara cried out, the pain obvious in her voice.  
"Okay, stop it! Stop that! This doesn't help anyone!", Alex spoke up, using her Director Danvers voice. "Our sister's missing. Right now it's not important what caused it. It's just important that we get her back as fast as possible."  
Kara's lip quivered but she nodded fiercely.

Alex returned the nod, then turned around.  
"Alright, guys!", Alex yelled, catching the attention of every DEO agent. "Red Daughter has been kidnapped. I want her location and who did it found ASAP. As well as a team ready to go so we can take off as soon as we know where she is. This is your top priority right now! Get to work!"  
The agents nodded and took off.  
"You're getting better at this everyday.", J'onn commented.  
Alex just shot him a short look, then turned to Kara, linking her arm with her's. 

"You should probably call Lena.", Alex said quietly to Kara.  
Kara nodded, distraught. She pulled out her phone and dialed Lena's number.  
"Hey, love.", Lena's voice rang through the phone and immediately calmed Kara. At least a little bit.   
"Lena, I- I have to tell you something.", she had to work hard to not let her voice crack.   
"Kara? What is it? You sound upset."  
"It's... it's Lin. Someone took her. We don't know who did it and we don't know where she is. The DEO is working on it though. But... but I just needed to tell you. I-", she broke off, taking a deep breath. She licked her lips which were starting to quiver again. There was silence on the other side of the line. "Lena?"  
"I'm on my way.", the Luthor said, hanging up without another word.

It didn't take long until she came storming into the DEO. Her eyes immediately scanned the room until they landed on the devastated superheroine who raised her head to meet her eyes.   
They walked towards each other in a fast pace, meeting each other halfway with a tight hug.  
"What happened?", Lena asked when they finally pulled away.   
Their hands remained on each other's shoulders, giving each other support.

Kara summarised the events from before again. It took a toll on her as she could barely keep her voice steady.   
Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Are there any leads yet?"  
Kara just shook her head, not entirely trusting the stability of her voice and making the other woman bite her lip in despair before pulling her into another hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the angst and the drama begin


	12. Chapter 26A

Three days.  
By now, it had been three days which had gone by since Linda had gotten captured by the group which had already attacked them before at CatCo.  
Three days had gone by without a sign or a lead of her whereabouts or kidnappers.  
Three days had gone by without any kind of information of Linda's condition or wellbeing.   
Three days of pure emotional torture for the ones who were looking for her.   
Most affected were of course Alex, Lena and Kara as her closest relations, being her sisters and her girlfriend but many others at the DEO or in their private life too were extremely worried, like Nia who had become a very close, very trusted friend or Brainy, James and J'onn who may not be very close to her but had still grown to like her.

Neither Kara and Lena nor Alex had gone home in these three days. The first two not even going to their other workplace anymore. They refused to leave the DEO until Linda had been found and had been brought to safety.   
None of them were sleeping well, if at all.  
Alex was only taking short naps every now and then to sustain some sort of energy level, though those barely cured the exhaustion.   
Kara was plagued with nightmares everytime she did as much as close her eyes. Each time she saw her twin sister's unconscious body being dragged into a van while she herself struggled in J'onn's grip, not being able to help her. At times her mind would go as far as distort the image, have Linda be awake and crying out for help, crying out to her to save her and asking why she wouldn't try a little harder.  
Lena couldn't sleep at all, or at least she wouldn't - if it wasn't for Kara forcing her into the medbay where she held her comfortingly and close in her arms and have her rest for at least a few hours, she would have probably collapsed at some point.

Kara brought in food a few times since both her older sister as well as her girlfriend were the kind of people who would forget to eat in a worried or stressed state of mind.  
However, it was left untouched most of the time. And it was more or less just an attempt at keeping herself occupied anyway - she couldn't even stomach any food herself and that was saying something since she would normally never reject food. 

As the days went by, their nerves became more and more strained - worry and fear for the latest Danvers sister filling them up completely.   
And it took a toll on their behavior as well towards each other and others as well.  
"There's gotta be something! They can't just have disappeared into thin air!", Alex yelled one day, angrily kicking over a chair and making a few of the DEO agents jump.   
She knew it wasn't their fault for not being able to find anything but her frustration was keeping the upper hand, not letting any remorse about startling her agents through. She huffed. "Go back to work. We need answers! We need to find her!"

Lena was watching from a few away, with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "Yelling doesn't help her. And it won't bring her back faster either."  
"You think I don't know that?", Alex hissed, her head jerking in Lena's direction. "But there's literally nothing else I can do! Like I said, we need to find her! I'm trying my best, okay?"  
"It may have escaped your notice, Alex, but you're not the only one who's worried about her or scared for her here. I'm her girlfriend.", the Luthor exclaimed, coming a few steps closer.  
"Well, I'm her big sister!", Alex countered instantly, voice raised at her.  
At this point, Lena narrowed her eyes and flared her nostrils. That statement had obviously hit a spot. Her voice was cold when she responded. "And you think that trumps me?"

Alex released a breath as she closed her eyes and stemmed her hands into her hips. She turned slightly away from the other woman, seemingly wanting to avoid eye contact now.  
"I love her.", Lena said shakily, her voice threatening to break near the end. "I want her back just as much so don't you dare tell me that my fear isn't as valid as yours."  
Alex sighed, running her hands through her hair before gripping the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "I- I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just... I... don't know how much longer I can deal with this- this worry. I can't help but feel like this is my fault. I could have just sent a few agents on the mission. They could have handled it themselves - there was no need for Supergirl and Red Daughter. Then she wouldn't have... wouldn't have been captured."

Kara, who had been watching the stressed banter between her sister and girlfriend from a safe distance, sighed sadly and started walking towards her.   
"Alex, you shouldn't blame yourself. They tried to catch us before. They would've tried it again at some point, sooner or later. They- um...", she interrupted herself as she suddenly felt dizzy. "It's not your-"  
The world in front of her seemed to blur. She frowned and stopped moving. She lifted her arms to retrieve some sort of balance but it didn't really help. 

"Darling, are you alright?", she heard Lena asking.  
When she didn't respond, Alex Schmied in: "Kara, what's wrong?"  
The blonde tried answering, opened her mouth several times in an attempt to do so but it felt like it had been dried out.   
Nothing was able to come out, no matter how hard she tried.  
And then her already blurred view turned into pitchblack blackness and she felt herself falling.  
The last thing she heard was the two other women screaming her name and running towards her as she hit the ground where she stayed, unable to move the slightest as she rapidly lost her consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger. Something I love doing, though I know exactly how much it sucks to experience it :D  
> Hope you like it anyway!


	13. Chapter 27A

When Kara woke up, she found herself in a dark big room. It seemed like an old abandoned factory or something.  
She blinked to wash off the dizziness and stood up. She had no idea what had happened.  
When she heard voices, she turned around abruptly and almost let out a scream.   
Several men dressed completely in black stood around a chair which a young blonde woman in a teal and black colored suit was seated on. Linda.  
Her arms were tied to the armrests - needles were poked into her wrists, with a green thick liquid, kryptonite, flowing inside of her veins. The substance which allowed them to be able to penetrate her skin in the first place. There seemed to be some sort of regulation on the needle, which either allowed the flow or not. Assumably, they were pumping enough into her to keep her weak and defenseless but stopping everytime it became a lethal amount. They wanted to keep her alive as a prisoner as long as possible.

"What do you want? My sister's and my secret identity? I won't tell you.", Linda said, weak but determined. "I don't betray my sister."  
"Your sister? Did she tell you that?", one of the guys laughed. "You're not her sister, you're just a cheap copy of her!"  
Linda frowned and shook her head. "No. We... we're family."

The guy just laughed more and Linda seemed to grow insecure. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, but let out a sharp hiss when the movement pulled at the skin around the needles.  
Kara watched wide eyed, then sped over but when she tried knocking the guys unconscious, her hands just went straight through them. Kara stared at her hands, then back at Linda, who had tears burning in her eyes.   
"No, Red, hey!", she yelled but of course she didn't hear her. 

"She's going to get me.", Linda said through gritted teeth and Kara nodded strongly.  
"You really think that? You're even dumber than I thought. She doesn't care about you.", he laughed. "No one does! Why do you think the Martian only protected Supergirl, not you? Right. Priorities."  
Linda bit her lip. Kara wanted to desperately punch the guy and wrap her twin into a tight hug, telling her how wrong he was.

"I won't tell you who she is.", she repeated.   
A figure stepped out of the shadows of the room now. It seemed to be the woman who had already been leading them at the attack on Catco. Her face was still hidden behind a mask though.  
""Oh, _krasnaya doch'._ You were never very cooperative. But don't worry, we won't force you to tell us. We'll get Kara Danvers in time. With or without your help."  
Linda as well as Kara froze in shock. 

"You... you know?", Linda whispered.   
The woman nodded. "Of course we do. And we'll get her too with time. The fact she hasn't come yet proves that she couldn't care less about you. Shame. If she came, that could save us a lot of trouble."  
"She... she loves me. They all do. We're... we're family.", Linda repeated but she didn't sound as convinced as before and it broke Kara's heart. The tied up girl started shaking.

One of the guys stepped forward again.  
"No. They don't. That's why they won't be coming for you. They're probably happy you're gone. They're better off without you. Don't you want some revenge for that?"  
Linda let out a scream, her heat vision activated itself in all her fear and pain.  
One of the guys was thrown a couple of feet before landing on the floor, dead, when the lasers hit his chest.

"Knock her out!", the woman screamed over Linda's paralyzing cries. The male leader took a little case, opened it and pulled out what seemed like a small hand granate. He threw it at Linda, causing it to explode with green smoke. The kryptonite bomb instantly knocked her unconscious.  
Kara felt herself swaying again.  
The last thing she saw was the woman stepping over to Linda and shaking her head at her.   
Kara's vision faded to black once more until her eyes fluttered open again and she woke up with a start in the DEO.

"Kara, hey, what happened?", Lena asked softly, kneeling beside her. Alex was sitting right next to her. Both were looking worried.  
Kara gulped. "I... I saw Lin. Like I once saw Sam in the valley. I don't know, some psychic connection because of the Horun-El maybe? It doesn't matter. We have to find her. We have to find her fast.", she said, already standing up. "They're torturing her, mentally and physically. I think they're trying to break her so she will turn on me. I think they're gonna try to use her as a weapon so she will kill me. And then they're probably going to... dispose of her too, oh Rao. They're saying... terrible things like us not loving her and not wanting to save her. It's... it's horrible.. And they have more kryptonite, much more."  
Both stared at her, mortified. 

Then Alex's expression turned to rage. "I'm gonna punch their freaking lights out.", she whispered angrily. She pulled herself together, tried to stay focused.  
Kara licked her lips nervously. "There's something else."  
They glanced at her expectantly, obviously not happy about the fact that there was supposedly something else to worry about.   
"They know our secret identities. They know I'm Kara Danvers."  
While Lena only stared at her, Alex groaned as she rubbed her temples.

"Okay.", she said slowly. "We have to worry about that later. I'll ask J'onn whether he'd be willing to erase their memories. I'm sure he will. Your and Lin's life depends on it... Did you see anything that might give us a lead where she is?"  
Kara stopped pacing and attempted to remember. "There.. there was was this symbol. I think it's an old factory or something. Ar-... arme-...", she tried remembering but her memory was blurry.  
Lena's head jerked in her direction. "ArmerTek."  
Kara looked up. "Yes! Exactly!"

Alex instantly walked to one of the DEO agents who were sitting at the computers. "I need the location of all old abandoned ArmerTek factories."  
The agent nodded, beginning to tap on his keyboard.  
Kara and Lena joined them, nervous but also growing hopeful.   
Soon enough, the agent pulled up a map - there were only three red dots visible.   
"Those are the only ones. But that one-", he pointed at one of the dots. "-is going to be demolished and rebuilt soon."  
"They probably won't risk being seen by construction workers. They won't be there. That narrows it down.", Alex said.

"Oh, actually.", he continued. "That one is a ruin. There was an explosion, leaving it a danger of collapsing. I doubt anyone's mad enough to risk going in there."  
"So, it can only be that one?", Kara asked, pointing at the remaining location and as he nodded, she turned around. "Good, then I'll get her."  
"Kara, no, wait!", Alex yelled, causing her to turn around again. "You can't go alone, they have kryptonite! They are dangerous."  
"But she needs help! Fast!"  
"I know! I want her safe too, she's my sister as well.", Alex replied with an understanding look in her eyes. "Look, I know you don't like hearing it but J'onn was right. You're no use to her if they capture you too."  
For a second, Kara appeared taken aback, then she just sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Fine. But hurry."  
Alex nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh


	14. Chapter 28A

A few minutes later, she had assembled a group of agents, among them J'onn for the memory erasure and Nia as Dreamer who had been keen on saving Linda too, for the rescue mission.   
"Let's go.", Alex said.  
Kara nodded, marching towards the exit with the others.

"Hey, Kara.", Lena said quietly.  
Kara turned her head in her direction.  
"Bring her home safe.", she said with a shaky voice.  
Kara motioned for Alex to walk ahead to the DEO vans with all of the others and then took a few long strodes back to Lena, until she stood in front of her. She cupped Lena's face and softly kissed her. After pulling back, she rested her forehead against her's.  
"Trust me, I will.", Kara whispered.  
Lena nodded lightly. "And take care of yourself too. I need both of you."  
"I will. I love you."  
"I love you.", Lena replied gently. "Now go."  
Kara nodded, loosening from her girlfriend and following her older sister and the agents outside.

The DEO vans needed an hour to get to the destination. Kara just grew more and more impatient by the second, knowing she could have been there in a few minutes, maybe even seconds. But Alex, and J'onn too, though it was hard to admit, were right. It was too dangerous to go alone, especially since they had kryptonite. She needed the backup - just in case.  
Alex was getting more impatient as well, but she needed to keep it together. She was the Director, she needed to give orders and she needed to be strong. She couldn't allow herself to be weak, not so close to their goal.

When they finally arrived, the agents gathered outside of the building. Alex gave silent orders by using hand motions. The agents drew their weapons, moving towards the building. Dreamer got ready to use her powers in case she needed them.  
It was dark - no lights to be seen but that could be just for diguising purposes.  
As they moved forward, they slowly started encountering a couple of individual men who were quickly knocked out with the help of the element of surprise. 

"Can you hear anything?", Alex whispered to Kara.   
Kara closed her eyes, listening for her twin sister's heartbeat. It was faint but she could hear it.  
"Found her.", she said. "I'm going."  
"Supergirl.", Alex hissed at her.  
"I'm going, Alex.", she repeated, more forcefully. "I didn't hear any other heartbeats in that direction. There's no one there. I'll go in to get her and be back with you in a mere few seconds!"  
Alex groaned quietly at her little sister's persistance. "Fine but be careful! And take Dreamer with you, just in case."  
Kara nodded, went over to Nia to hold her and rushed away with her.

They sped through the dark corridors until they halted in front of a door. Kara listened closely again and when she had reassured herself that this was the right one, she nodded at Nia and kicked the door in. They stepped into the dark lit room.

They looked around and Nia lightly hit Kara's arm as her eyes landed on a dark figure with blonde hair sitting in a chair against near the wall. The figure was sniffling and quietly sobbing.  
Linda.  
She was bleeding from a wound on her lip.  
The skin around her right eye was blue and purple.  
Apparently she had been slapped or punched before.  
But worst of all was the kryptonite, cursing through her veins and causing her veins to glow in a dangerously bright green.

Kara pulled herself out of her shocked trance and ran over to her. "Red!", she exclaimed.   
She had to concentrate hard to not let the affect of the kryptonite influence her too intensely, though she was starting to feel less strong already. The only thing keeping her on her feet was probably the fact that she had been dealing with this kind of pain for several years now and was able to bare it - plus the fact that the worry for her sister was stronger than any pain she could ever feel.

"Kara?", Linda mumbled weakly, lifting her head while being barely able to hold her eyes open. "You're here?"  
Kara kneeled down in front of her and cupped her face. "Of course I'm here. You're my sister, I love you. I will always come for you."  
"We all will.", Nia added, joining them.   
Linda succeeded in a weak, relieved smile.

"We're gonna get you out of here.", Kara continued, taking her hands off her face and moving them to her wrists.  
"No, you won't.", a voice behind them said. "But thanks for coming over. That makes things a lot easier for us."  
Kara and Nia whipped around. A man dressed completely in black watched them from the door's entrance, his mask hiding his face. He was throwing a small grenate, which was glowing lightly green from within, up and down in his hand like a ball.  
"I'll handle him. Help Red.", Nia said simply, standing up and summoning her dream powers. 

While Nia went to attack the guy, Kara took the needles out of her sister's wrist, causing Linda to sharply suck in air as the pain hit her.  
Kara flinched. "I'm sorry.", she said sorrowfully.  
She also untied the chains around her feet, while looking over her shoulder just in time to see the attacker fall to the floor, unconscious.  
Nia pulled off the mask and all of them frowned.   
"Otis Graves?", they said simultaneously.   
"Will that guy ever stay dead?", Kara groaned, shaking her head, very annoyed.

After having tied him up, Nia jogged back to them, glancing at Linda. "She won't be able to walk out of here on her own.", she whispered to Kara.  
Kara also took a look at her sister, hanging weakly in the chair, breathing hard.   
She got up, leaning down to her.  
"Put your arms around me. C'mon, I'll get you out of here. You're safe with me - with us."  
Linda blinked, having a hard time staying awake, and nodded, slowly raising her sore, tired arms around Kara's neck.   
Kara put one arm around her waist, the other under her kneecaps and lifted her up.  
"Go ahead, I'm coming after. You're faster alone.", Nia told her, her eyes laying on her injured friend with worry.   
Kara nodded, trying to put all her gratitude into one look. Then she shot out of the room with her superspeed, towards the other DEO agents.

In a mere few seconds, she had found them again.  
"I got her.", Kara announced. "Nia's coming after. She sent me ahead."  
Alex turned around faster than a bullet. She got paler when she saw the state Linda was in. Bleeding, bruised and skin entirely covered by traces of kryptonite. It made her sick.  
She moved closer quickly and brushed her hand gently over Linda's cheek. "Hey.", she whispered.  
Linda's eyes fluttered, a small smile danced around her lips.  
"Alex.", she just mumbled.   
"Yeah.", Alex said softly with a small, relieved smile. She raised her head to look at her other sister, seriously. "She needs yellow sunlight lamps. You should get her to the DEO asap. I'm gonna call Lena to let her know so she can prepare them already. We're gonna take care of the bastards who did this to her in the meantime."  
Kara nodded. "We already encountered one. Guess who? Otis Graves. He's tied up back there. I'd appreciate if we finally locked him up or something. That guy and his countless lives are really going on my nerves."

Not a second later she was already flying her twin sister out of the building and across the sky, back to National City.  
When Kara landed at the entrance of the DEO, Lena already waited for her.  
Her eyes widened and a hand moved to her mouth in shock as she saw the injured kryptonian.  
She met Kara half way, instantly running her hand through Linda's hair.   
"Hey, sweetie.", she whispered, stroking her cheek.  
"Lena.", the blonde sighed happily but her smile returned quickly to a pain ridden grimace.   
The darkhaired woman gave her a quick soft kiss on the forehead, then turned to her other girlfriend.   
"This way. The lamps are already prepared."  
Kara nodded, following her.

Lena held open the door to the small room and Kara strode to the medical bed, gently laying Linda down under the yellow sunlight lamps which were arranged above it.   
When she straightened herself, Linda grabbed her arm. Her grip was still weak but Kara still stopped nonetheless. "Please don't leave me.", she whispered with a terrified expression in her eyes.  
Kara's heart broke and at the same time, the intense rage returned to her. These people had hurt her twin sister so much and had planted these terrible ideas into her head.

Kara took Linda's hand and squeezed it while settling down on the side of the bed. "Of course not. I'll never leave you. Neither of us will.", she responded, looking over at Lena who nodded and joined them. Kara motioned for her to to sit on her lap so she didn't have to stand and Lena complied.  
She placed her own hand on the sisters' interwined ones. "We love you, Lin."  
Linda managed to raise the corners of her lips. "I love you too."  
And then she fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite line is probably "Will he ever stay dead" because that's what I was thinking while watching the show. Honestly wouldn't even be surprised if he appeared alive in S5 at some point.
> 
> Anyways, hope you like the chapter! :)


	15. Chapter 29A

After several hours, the others all finally came back into the DEO, returning from the place of action.  
Alex didn't waste any time. She just left the agents standing and marched straight towards the medbay to see how her little sister was doing. Whether she was okay again - at least physically.  
Nia had wanted to go see her friend too at first but she figured that this should probably stay a family matter at the moment, so she decided against it and instead went over to join Brainy.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When she came into the room of the medbay, Alex was relieved to see Linda sitting upright, talking with Kara and Lena, apparently as fine as she could possibly be - no traces of Kryptonite under her skin and no signs of injuries anywhere. The yellow sunlight lamps had healed all of it perfectly in the time they had been gone. 

Kara was the first to take notice of the door opening and her stepping in.  
"Alex, hey.", she smiled.  
The oldest Danvers sister returned the gesture before coming closer.  
"Hi.", she said.   
She shortly squeezed Kara's shoulder, then she wrapped Linda into a tight hug, just happy to have her back. "How are you feeling, Lin?"  
"Fine. The lamps helped me.", Linda answered.  
It was obvious that this was only a response to her physical condition. Mentally she was not fine. How could she be? She had been imprisoned and tortured for three days.   
But Alex didn't want to force her to talk about it, not now, not yet. She had just gotten back on her feet, she deserved some rest. 

"Did you catch those guys? Did J'onn wipe their minds? What about that leader, the woman? Was the there and did you get her?", Kara bombarded Alex with questions as soon as she had pulled up a chair and sat down.  
Alex raised her arms to slow the blonde down. Then she got ready to answer.  
"We did catch them. We're pretty sure we got all of them. We just have to hope that there no one else who had the luck of not being there at the time. J'onn did wipe all of their minds, so your secret identities should be safe again. And yes to that last one too. We found the woman. Demasked her... You'll never guess who.", Alex exclaimed, crossing her arms and letting her eyes glide over the three of them who were all watching her expectantly.

"Well?", Kara asked impatiently.  
"Eve Teschmacher.", Alex replied.  
Lena let out a scoff, so not only did Eve betray her, she basically started a terrorist group to take out the kryptonian superheroes. Great.  
Linda pulled a face at the mention of Eve. "I never liked her. "  
Kara's jaw had dropped. "What does she want?"  
"Revenge for imprisoning her one true love Lex Luthor, I guess.", Alex responded and gagged. "Can't believe I just managed to say that without throwing up."

"And those other guys? How did she manage to bring them under her control? Did anyone talk?", Lena wanted to know.   
"They're some remaining Children of Liberty."  
Kara groaned at the mention of the organisation which had caused enough problems more than once already before. However she pulled herself together to let Alex continue.   
"They jumped at the opportunity of bringing down the two main superheroines of the city. Eve convinced them by promising to help them erase the rest of the superhero aliens like Dreamer after. Since there would be no one left who would be able to protect the aliens, killing the rest of them would practically be a piece of cake."

"Disgusting.", Kara commented, pulling a face. She couldn't understand why there was such a hatred for aliens in some people's minds. Sure, there were some criminal aliens. But there were criminal humans too. That didn't cause her to hate the entire human race... because she knew there were many good hearted people as well. Just like there were many good hearted aliens. 

"It is.", Alex agreed, with crossed arms.  
Linda stared at the floor with a frown. Lena, sitting the closest to her, put her arm around Linda's shoulders and softly kissed her on her temple.  
Surely this was all a bit overwhelming for her right now.

"Well, at least Eve is now reunited with Lex. They have cells next to each other. Though he didn't look too happy about it.", Alex said.  
Lena chuckled darkly. "The only person he loves is himself. I told her that a long time ago but she wouldn't listen."  
Kara nodded absent-mindly. 

They all stayed quiet for a while.   
"Well, I don't know about you but I'm hungry. Wanna go eat something?", Alex announced, breaking the silence.   
"Oh yes, please, I'm starving.", Kara quickly added.  
Lena chuckled and nodded. "I could use something too."  
Linda nodded.  
They all got to their feet, walking to the door.

Suddenly though, Linda halted abruptly.  
"Kara.", she exclaimed.   
The other blonde turned around. She was really sure what she expected but it certainly wasn't Linda bleeding from her nose and staring at her with wide eyes.  
"Kara, I don't feel good.", Linda whimpered before her knees gave in.  
Kara sped over to her, catching her before she hit the ground. She could only stare in shock at her unconscious twin.   
Lena and Alex gasped when they saw what was going on and ran back to them.

"What happened?", Lena asked, appalled.  
"I... I don't know. She was fine! The yellow sunlight lamps healed her! She... she should be fine! I-", Kara rambled, overly worried, not being able to take her eyes of her sister.   
She only curtly looked up when Lena crouched down next to her, looking just as panicked as she felt.   
"What the hell is going on here?", Alex mumbled in despair, running a hand through her hair.   
Kara swallowed hardly as she carefully lifted her twin up. "I don't know but we gotta find out. We just got her back, I'm not losing her again."  
Alex nodded glumly. "Let's get her back on the bed. We'll figure something out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this a good time to mention that I'm a sucker for angst and hurt/comfort fics?
> 
> Anyways, yes I made Eve the culprit. As Lena has no reason for non nocere in here, Eve wouldn't become Hope but I wanted to give her a small storyline in here. So here we are.


	16. Chapter 30A

Kara had carefully laid Linda back down on the bed, under the yellow sunlight lamps, in the hopes that those would help her again, just as they had before.  
And now they were all sitting around her, worried once again and not knowing what had happened to cause this sudden change in her health, to cause such a sudden bad condition.  
By all logic, she should be fine. Kryptonite poisoning of course caused unconsciousness after a while but she had been healed from it. She had been recharged with yellow sunlight, had been back to her full strength.  
But now, not even the yellow sunlight lamps seemed to be helping as she was still unconscious several hours later. 

At some point, an agent entered the medbay, bringing some rather unexpected news.  
"Miss Luthor.", he said.  
Lena turned her head, her hand still resting on top of Linda's where it had been ever since Kara had put her down. 

"Your brother wants to talk to you.", the agent stated.  
Lena huffed derogatorively. "Do I look like I care right now?"  
She already wanted to turn around when the agent spoke up again. "He said it's important. He said it's about Red Daughter's... condition."  
Lena blinked a few times as if she considered the fact that she might have misheard him. "What?"  
"He said he knows what's wrong. And that he knows how to help her. He said that she would die if you didn't save her and that he's the only one who knows how to do that.", he responded firmly.

Lena looked back at Linda for a few seconds. She took a deep breath, then shortly brought the blonde's hand to her lips, giving it a soft kiss before abruptly standing up and gently placing Linda's hand next to her unconscious body.  
"Lena, wait, what if it's a trap?", Kara asked concerned, having jumped up to her feet.  
"It's a risk I'm willing to take. If he can help her, I... I have to try. I learned from my mistakes, I won't trust him again. But if he speaks the truth, then her life depends on it right now.", Lena exclaimed, pointing at Linda. Her voice was shaking with fear and desperation.  
"I'm going with you then.", Kara said without a moment of hesitation.  
"Someone's gotta stay with Lin.", Lena replied.  
Kara glanced down at her sister. Of course she didn't want to leave her side. But she also didn't want to let Lena go alone to her psychopathic brother.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
"Just go. I'll stay with her.", Alex said softly.  
Kara watched her older sister - one of the very few people she would ever trust with her twin's wellbeing. Because Alex loved her just as much.  
So she nodded. She leaned down to Linda's unconscious form, kissing her forehead. "You're gonna be fine.", she mumbled, more trying to reassure herself as Linda most probably couldn't hear her.

She straightened herself and walked away from the bed to her girlfriend, taking her hand and together they made their way to the cell of Lex Luthor.

As they arrived, they were greeted with the sight of Lex lying on his metal prison bed with his hands behind the back of his head. He didn't even look at them as he said "Well hello there."  
Lena rolled her eyes. "Just tell us what you want. What do you know about Red Daughter?"  
"I was expecting a greeting that's at least a little more warm and kind. Not even a hello, sis, that's low.", he commented as he got up into a sitting position, turning towards them. His eyes landed on Kara and their interwined hands. "But I guess you want to seem cool and badass in front of your girlfriend, right?"

"Oh, for Rao's sake, cut it out please. Just tell us what you know.", Kara groaned.  
Lex sighed theatralically. "Fine, fine. So, let me guess. She was all chipper, then suddenly got a nosebleed and broke down."  
"Basically.", Kara replied curtly.  
"What do you know about that? Why do you think you know what's wrong with her?", Lena added.  
"Because,", he said. "it happened before. When she was still under my control. Back in Kaznia."

"What caused it?", Kara asked immediately.  
"And how can we help her?", Lena wanted to know.  
"You know, I'm actually kind of disappointed that you didn't already figure that out, Lena. You're supposed to be so smart. Only took me a couple minutes to figure it out."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I feel it would be more fun if you figured it out yourself, to be honest. Think, Lena, think. What in the world could possibly be the reason? The cure? Because they're the same."  
Lena ran her hands through her hair. "I don't know, okay? Just tell me! I need to help her!", she yelled desperately.  
"Alright, alright. Relax. A little hint then: I gave myself cancer back then. Because I needed an excuse to get to you. I needed something from you."  
"Why would you ever do-", Lena interrupted herself as realisation struck her.  
A smirk grew on Lex's face. "Now you got it."  
"The Horun-El. It created her. It can fix her.", Lena stated, flabbergasted. Her head jerked into Kara's direction.  
"Ding ding ding, we got a winner.", Lex exclaimed sarcastically.

Lena's excitement faded as her eyes squinted in suspicion and she looked back at her brother. "And what do you want for helping us? If it's your freedom, I'm sorry to disappoint but-"  
"No.", Lex just said. He leaned back and shrugged. "Let's call it a purehearted piece of advice from your dear brother."  
"The Lex I know would want something in return. What are you planning?"  
Lex sighed. "Believe it or not. She grew on me. I still hate your kind, don't get me wrong, Supergirl.", he said, glancing at Kara and raising a hand as if to underline bis point. Then he turned back to Lena. "But she was one of the best things that I ever had the pleasure of finding. A miracle while it lasted. I didn't want her to die back then so I saved her. I don't want her to die now, so I helped you. It may come as a shock to you but I am capable of goodness every once in a while."  
Kara as well as Lena were baffled by his words, not being able to tell if he was telling the truth or if he was faking it. But they didn't have much time to consider it or figure out the true meaning of all of it. They had to get back so they just nodded and left, now with the knowledge of how to save Linda. Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy it :)


	17. Chapter 31A

Lena and Kara were both impatiently sitting and waiting by Linda's side as the Horun-El was carefully injected into her body's system.  
They were hopeful and optimistic that this would finally help.   
Lena had used the free time to speculate about the cause a little and had figured that Linda's body must have been so weakened by the amount of Kryptonite which had been pumped into her the last days that the yellow sunlight had only been a temporary solution. They had only been able to give her immediate energy for a short period of time - a little boost so to speak, which had quickly lost its effect.  
But the Horun-El should by all technicalities be a long term solution.

And after a while, she did finally start to move.   
At first her eyelids fluttered a little. But then suddenly she frowned. Her eyes opened a little gap. Enough so that she could look down at her arm where she felt the weird sensation.  
When she saw the needle in her skin and the small amount of kryptonite around it, which was making it possible to inject her in the first place, her eyes widened in panic. She appeared just like a scared wild animal which had been startled out of it's peace and quiet.

She was still disoriented, weak, panicked and thus didn't realise she was safe and sound on a medical bed at the DEO.  
Instead she felt transported back into the dark room of the old Amertek factory, in which she had been held captive - thinking she was back in the grasp of the Children of Liberty, the people who had kidnapped and tortured her for days.

Upon having these thoughts, she freaked out, struggling hard against the little machine until her arm was finally broken free from the needle which landed on the ground with a loud ringing sound. She jumped to her feet, rapidly looking around with hazy, wide opened eyes.  
Kara carefully approached, tried to calm her down but Linda didn't seem to recognize her in her bewildered panic. She pushed her back so that she flew a few feet until she crashed into a table, knocking all the contents on it and the table itself down.

Linda whipped around, coming face to face to Lena who was standing still in shock at the sudden outburst of the blonde.  
Linda's eyes were still not taking an actual hold on anything - it seemed like she saw everything through blurred glass, unable to distinguish friend from foe. Or in this case, unable to realise that Lena was in no way a threat to her.

But her hand found its way around Lena's neck and she raised her into the air. Lena gargled, trying to form a sentence, trying to stop her as her hands fumbled at Linda's grip, which was holding her with an iron handle.  
But of course she was nothing against the kryptonian.  
The region around Linda's eyes become red as she slowly pulled up her heat vision.

Kara screamed "No!".  
She was scrambling around on the floory, about to get to her feet and run forward. To tackle her sister and free her girlfriend from the attack.  
That was when Lena finally choked out a desperate "Lin."  
Though her voice was nothing more than a strained croak, it seemed to trigger something in the blonde.  
Her eyes rapidly returned to it's normal state - still panicked but now for a different reason. 

"No.", she whispered, obviously terrified to the core. "Lena."  
She let go abruptly and Lena fell to the ground, coughing violently and gasping for air.  
Kara, who had finally gotten to her feet, stormed forward now, hugging Lena, pressing her close to her own body and worriedly, repeatedly asking if she was okay.

Linda had meanwhile rushed backwards with her superspeed, too overwhelmed to have any kind of control. She just knew she needed to get away.   
Needed to bring distance between her and Lena. Her Lena who she had hurt, who she had almost killed.  
She rushed backwards until she hit the wall behind her, where she left a strikingly big dent.  
There, she had simply broken down, cowering against the hard, cold wall, breaking out into heartwrenching sobs. She just mumbled the same sentence over and over as she shook her head and pressed her eyes tightly shut.  
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

A few feet away, Lena coughed a few more times, taking a deep breath, desperate for air to fill her lungs.  
"I'm fine.", she croaked, weakly pushing Kara's arms away, though she actually wished for nothing more than to accept the embrace. But she knew what was more important to her - Linda. She motioned over at the blonde who was starting to rock herself back and forth in desperation. Lena took another breath before adding: "You need to help Lin."

"Lee-"  
"Go. I'm fine.", Lena repeated, sternly.  
Kara nodded, knowing that argueing was senseless. She pressed a kiss to Lena's temple and then sped over to her absolutely devastated sister who was by now hysterically sobbing.  
"Hey, hey, Lin- I'm here, it's okay.", Kara said softly, wanting to comfort her. She put her arms around her, trying to calm her down but her sister barely reacted as she just kept crying and whispering apologies.

When Lena finally got the violent coughing under control, she crawled over to them on all four, settling down next to them.  
When Linda saw out of the corner of her eyes that the brunette had come so close, she looked over at her. For a second she seemed to just want to throw her arms around her and cling onto her. 

But then her eyes landed on the red marks on Lena's throat. Which were entirely her fault. She just started crying even more.  
Lena ran her hand through Linda's hair. "It's alright. You didn't mean to do that. I understand.", Lena said softly and gently lifted Linda's chin. "Hey, look at me, I'm okay. I'm okay."  
Linda tightly shut her eyes, shaking her head while rocking herself back and forth again. Thick streams of tears rolling out of her tightly shut eyes.  
"I'm sorry.", she mumbled through the heartbreaking sobs. "I'm so sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I'm sorry too.  
> Like I've said a few times, this was the storyline I originally wrote a few months back and I have no idea why I put so much drama and angst in there. I really wanted to take at least this and the next parts out but I'd be missing too many chapters then, so... it's gotta stay😬  
> The angst is real


	18. Chapter 32A

It had taken quite a while until the floods of tears stopped and the sobs died down.  
When they finally did, Linda's eyes appeared empty - she looked completely out of it, almost as if she was in some kind of trance.  
Maybe it was just the shock weighing her down and the adrenaline slowly leaving her system.  
The only thing which had been able to escape her mouth was a quiet "I want to go home. Please."  
After that she had fallen silent.

Kara had nodded slightly.  
"Okay.", she whispered, enforcing the grip around her sister's shoulders to help her get back on her feet.  
Lena went to touch her shoulder in a comforting manner but she didn't expect what was happening in response to that. Linda flinched away from her touch, instead pressing herself against Kara, very precisly looking to the ground to avoid eye contact. 

The brunette seemed very taken aback by this reaction - feeling hurt by the fact that Linda apparently didn't want her to comfort her. Or to be near her at all for that matter.  
Kara gaped for a few seconds at the scene unfolding in front of her, then pulled herself together. Surely there was a logical reason and solution to what was going on. They would figure something out when they were home.  
She kept one arm around her twin's shoulders, holding her close and rubbing over her upper arm with that hand while reaching out with her other one to Lena.

Lena's eyes lingered on the other blonde Danvers for a while.  
A pained expression slowly started to spread across her face, before she then she swallowed hardly and took Kara's hand, letting her guide her outside. She too was now staring down at the floor, chewing on her lip at the same time.

As they walked through the DEO towards the exit, Alex took notice of them from across the hall and hastily jogged over to them without a second of hesitation.  
"Hey, hey, hey, Lin. You should really stay here in the medbay for a while. You've just went through two extreme traumas, you seriously need to rest."  
Kara looked at her twin, who was gazing ahead into nothingness, seemingly not taking any notice of anything around her - not even Alex.

She looked back at her older sister.  
"She can do that at home too. Please, Alex, she's been through a lot. She hasn't been home or out of that suit in days. What she really needs is the safety of home."  
Alex didn't seem to agree at first but when she glanced at Linda's current state, she grew worried and appeared to reconsider.  
She didn't even know what had really been going on inside that room of the medbay. What kind of accident had occured, what kind of breakdown Linda had had because of it.  
Alex didn't even know what had caused her little sister to look this devastated. 

She sighed. "Fine. If anything happens though, call me and get her back here asap, okay?"  
Kara nodded, quickly leaning over to give her older sister a kiss on the cheek.   
Then the three left the DEO. Alex watched after them for a while, not being able to shake the worry.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When they arrived at home, Kara led Linda to the couch where she gently seated her down.  
Lena meanwhile picked up the red fuzzy blanket from the other side of the couch and went to hang it around Linda's shoulders.  
At that point, she stopped to reconsider. Apparently scared that Linda would shy away from her touch or her closeness again. She bit her lip and after a second of second guessing, she just silently handed the blanket to Kara.

The blonde watched her girlfriend with sad eyes, especially when Lena excused herself, saying she would go to the kitchen to make some tea for them.  
Kara sighed sadly and fullfilled Lena's initial attempt of hanging the red blanket around Linda's shoulders, hoping it would somehow fullfill its function of her security blanket.  
The latter didn't show much of a reaction to this act either though.

A few minutes later, Lena came back with three cups.   
She sat down on Linda's other side. But when Linda shifted closer to Kara, Lena moved a few inches away from her to give her space. Tears sparkled in the CEO's eyes upon experiencing this kind of rejection.  
Kara's eyes widened slightly, not understanding what was going on or why Linda would push Lena away like that - especially when she had always longed for her touch the most before.  
Of course she felt guilty and ashamed for having hurt Lena, for having almost killed her. But it had been an accident, she hadn't meant to do it and both of them had pretty much explained to her that she couldn't be blamed for it.  
Apparently, Linda didn't seem to believe that.

Time continued to pass in complete silence.  
Linda still didn't utter a single word, just stared ahead. She didn't even do as much as touch the cup of tea which was still standing on the table and was beginning to get cold.  
Kara tried her best to show her that she was there by drawing circles on her back with her hand. She was hoping to get some sort of reaction out of her.  
At some point, Linda's head moved to rest on Kara's shoulder.  
She breathed quite heavily for a while until her breathing started becoming more relaxed and peaceful. She had seemingly fallen asleep.

When they were sure that she was actually sleeping, Kara spoke up softly, and quietly so she wouldn't wake her up again. "Lee, are you okay?"  
Lena chuckled - it wasn't a happy one but an absolutely heartbroken, bitter one. "No."  
"I'm sure... I'm sure it's just the shock. She probably just needs to sleep it off and then everything will be okay.", Kara tried encouraging her. But if she was honest with herself, she wasn't too sure about the probability of that happening herself. "Most people would be a little out of it if they went through two traumas like that over the span of a few days. Especially with... with what happened, you know."

Lena looked over at her, sadness clear in her eyes. "I don't know, love, I... the way she reacted when I just got a little too close, it... I don't know."  
Kara sighed. "I'm sorry, sunshine."  
Lena closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose before standing up. "I'll get us something to eat. I- I can't just sit here."  
Kara nodded slightly, her eyes following Lena with pity.


	19. Chapter 33A

The following days went by without much improvement.   
Linda had rolled together on the couch in the evening of the day where they arrived at home, wrapped into the red blanket, and that's where she had stayed ever since.   
She was either found staring into nothingness with empty, unfocused eyes or sleeping.  
She didn't talk, not to anyone, not even to Kara.  
She didn't eat anything either which was really concerning them.  
Worst of all, especially for the brunette herself, was that she still didn't let Lena touch her. To escape her touch was the only reason she would move.  
Which hurt the CEO more than any betrayal by her family ever could.

Kara tried anything she could to coax a reaction out of her sister.  
Talking to her, trying to motivate her and lure her with food - almost feeling bd about it because she was more so treating her like a shy stray dog than her sister but in her defense, she was growing desperate. 

Every night, she made the attempt of asking her if she wanted to get up from the couch and instead sleep in their bed with her and Lena.  
But it never worked.  
So she just sighed everytime, kissed her forehead, gently ran a hand through her hair and told her that if she needed anything, she could call for her or simply come over.   
All the while she tried to hide what it was doing to her to see her like that. It was torture.   
After the brutal days of cluelessness about her whereabout and condition, she was now painfully aware of how she was doing. And it wasn't good.

They did their best to cope, to help her somehow, though they didn't know how.  
Alex also came by a few times to try to animate her.  
Even going as far as bringing Kelly with her since she might be able to help with her therapeutic measures.  
But there was still no kind of reaction coming from Linda at all.   
Kelly had to admit that she had never seen a PTSD victim as deeply affected, damaged almost, as her. She was unfortunately met with a dead end.

And since Kara and Lena couldn't really ignore their workplace anymore after not having been there in the entire time they had been searching for Linda, they decided to take turns in going.  
So that there would always be someone at home with her. Most of the time, that was Kara though, like now.  
She had sat down at the end of the couch, near the spot where Linda's feet ended. She sighed sadly and gently placed her hand on Linda's leg.  
"We miss you, Lin.", she whispered. But again, there was no sign of registration. 

(at L-Corp)  
As Lena sat at her office desk, she had trouble concentrating. How could she with everything that was going on at home right now?   
The most conflicting part was that she could neither stand being there nor being away.  
When she was at home, she had to watch as Linda silently suffered. And she couldn't help - Linda didn't let her. It was probably the fear of hurting her again which only upset Lena more. Linda hated herself for something Lena didn't even think about blaming her for. 

That was why she stayed more often at L-Corp. But that wasn't any easier. She despised not being near her girlfriends, the women she loved most. She longed to be at their side.  
She sighed, letting the pen she had been holding drop and burying her face in her hands.   
Right now, she wished for nothing more than to be able to go back in time. To go back to a happier place and just enjoy the light that radiated from Kara and Linda. 

She remembered clearly how the day went, on which she suggested this relationship to them. Kara had pretended to be all for it but back then she was actually consumed by jealousy. Before she had realised how this was a better and happier solution for the sake of all three of them. Before she had not only grown to tolerate and accept but learned to like the idea.  
She remembered exactly how she had first explained and showed Linda, who had been incredibly helpless and nervous at the time, what a kiss felt like and how to actually go through with it. 

From this day forward, Linda had been ecstatic everytime there was a chance of kissing Lena - or any other form of body contact to be exact.   
It had been simply amazing how the simplest things managed to make Linda so happy - holding Lena's hand, resting her head on Lena's shoulder or lap, cuddling with her or her sister.  
She had been such a happy girl.   
And now that had been taken from her and Lena hated not knowing how to give it back to her.   
She knew a first step might be getting her to allow Lena touch her again. At least a hug. That was all Lena wanted. 

And so, when she came home that day, she was determined to achieve at least this little thing. She needed to achieve it. Because she would break if she didn't.   
So, she sat down on the edge of the couch - she saw Linda pressing herself against the backrest, the emptiness in her eyes turning to panic.   
It was like a stab in the heart for Lena but she knew that this might be the only way. She carefully rested her hand on Linda's arm, feeling her heavy breathing, being reminded of that memory, of their first kiss, again where she had felt her heavy breathing underneath her hand as well.

Lena swallowed.  
"I'm going to lie down next to you now.", she exclaimed softly, and when Linda's eyes widened, she added: "It's alright. You're not going to hurt me. Everything's alright. I trust you. You have to trust me too, okay?"  
When Linda didn't protest or jump up to escape or anything similar to that, she saw it as a silent agreement. So she lay down, getting under the red blanket as well, in which the blonde had been wrapped for days now.  
Linda stared at her for awhile, completely still, then her lip quivered a little and in one swift motion, her hand moved to Lena's stomach, gripping onto the fabric of her shirt at the same as her head went to rest on Lena's chest - listening to her heartbeat. 

Lena heard her sniffle quietly, as she seemed to press herself even closer to her body.   
The brunette released a deep breath.  
She did it. Linda did it. They did it.  
This was progress, right? Huge progress.  
She couldn't help the small relieved smile wandering over her lips as she raised her hand to let it glide over Linda's hair and back in a comforting matter. She had missed this. So much. This simple kind of interaction. 

Though Linda seemed to tense every now and then, and had moments where her breathing would stock a little, she didn't push Lena away.   
Which was all the Luthor could wish and ask for.

And she definitely couldn't hold a back a smile when Kara came in from the other room and upon seeing the scene almost dropped the plate she was carrying in excitement.   
The blonde came closer, giving Lena a quick peck on the lips and then gently pressing a kiss on Linda's head as her sister seemed to slowly lose the tension and the fear. She started relaxing in Lena's embrace and soon enough, she had drifted off into sleep once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there, boys. And girls. And anything in between.


	20. Chapter 34A

Hours ticked by and Kara was sitting on the edge of the couch by now, watching with worry as Lena held Linda who had fallen back into her motionless position.  
She just lay there, cuddled into the red blanket and against the brunette's body, staring into nothingness.  
Like she had been doing for the past days as well.  
Kara was just glad that she finally let Lena touch her, even hold her in her arms like this.   
Before, she had witnessed it a few hours ago, she would have deemed it nearly impossible, considering what had been going on.  
She had always rejected her attempts at contact for the past days. Seemingly terrified of possibly hurting her on accident again.  
So maybe there was a little bit of progress after all as she finally seemed to grow beyond that.  
But her condition still remained anything but healthy.

Kara was pulled out of her thoughts when it loudly knocked on the door.  
Her head jerked in the direction of said door and she used her x-ray vision to figure out who the unexpected visitor was.   
She stroked Linda's arm shortly as kind of a sign that she would be back soon and then stood up, walking over to the door. She opened the door and forced the corners of her lips to lift themselves.   
"Hey, Nia.", she said quietly.

It was nice to see her. She had barely seen any of her friends since the incident.  
She had only gotten out of the house for short periods of time - like visits to CatCo to get at least some work done and for problems which required Supergirl. The rest of the time had been spent with her girlfriend and her twin - and her older sister every now and then as she came to check in on them a few times.

"Hey.", Nia greeted back. "Sorry for dropping in on you like that. I was nearby and thought I could stop by to say hello... How is she?"  
Kara looked over her shoulder to the couch where Lena was still drawing comforting circles with her hand on Linda's back and arm.   
She sighed and turned back to Nia. "Honestly? She's in pretty bad shape.", she said with a low voice and bit her lip, then she opened the door further. "You wanna come in for a bit?"  
Nia just nodded and stepped in as Kara closed the door behind her. 

Nia cautiously walked over to the couch. Upon hearing the steps, Lena raised her head.  
There were dark bags under her eyes as she had trouble sleeping the last days, or in fact the entire last week. First because of Linda being kidnapped and now because she fell into this deep hole which Lena wanted to desperately help her out of. 

"Hi, Nia.", she greeted with a little smile.   
"Hey.", the younger woman replied softly. Her eyes fell on Linda and she seemed to need to swallow. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then she kneeled down next to the couch.  
She looked at the blonde who kept staring ahead, right past her, apparently taking not the slightest notice of the visitor.   
"Hey, Lin.", Nia whispered. She stayed quiet for a while before she grabbed into her purse and pulled out a small package - a package of Oreo cookies which she held up in the blonde's direction. "I got something for you. I heard you're not really eating but surely you can't resist these?"

Seconds passed by in which Linda didn't react at all.  
Nia was growing unsure of her plan and almost wanted to let her arm sink back down in disappointment when Linda finally made eye contact and, very slowly, untangled her arm and reached over to her.  
She carefully took the cookie package from her and pulled it close to her chest. When she opened her mouth, no sound came out but her lips formed the words "Thank you."

Nia beamed at her.  
She was overjoyed that she had been able to coax a reaction out of her friend. She missed Linda or, as she sometimes called her, her "sun puppy".  
She had chosen that nickname since Linda was even more bubbly and even cuter than Kara - something that could have been deemed impossible before meeting her. And Kara had been so amused by that fact, had found it adorable, especially since they had developed such a good and deep friendship after just a few days.  
She still remembered the first time she had met her. How she had first mistaken her for Kara before realising that she was her new twin sister. How she had wanted to greet her with a fist bump only to realise that Linda had no idea what that was. How she had shown her and how excited Linda had gotten - making that their official greeting ever since.

So, now Nia raised her fist again, expectantly. She didn't know if this would be too much at once for Linda but she really wanted to try. She did take the Oreos after all...   
And sure enough, one corner of Linda's mouth raised a little - so little that it was barely even visible to the eye - and her hand let go of the cookies to form a very loose fist. She continued to weakly bump it against Nia's before her hand dropped back down on Lena's stomach as if that short interaction had already cost her too much energy.

Nia grinned as she made a quiet exploding noise.  
Linda's lips moved again, mimicking her. Though it was again with barely any sound coming out.  
Only Kara, with her superhearing, could hear the very quietly spoken "Boom" from Linda. But at least it was something.

Kara as well as Lena watched the scene in astonishment. This was - after accepting Lena's embrace - the biggest kind of reaction Linda had shown in days. They couldn't help but break into relieved smiles.  
Apparently she really was getting better after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because before I had the idea for the second version where they're together, they were best friends in this version and this chapter shows just how close they are.


	21. Chapter 35A

"You want any syrup?", Kara asked Lena who looked up from her pancakes which the blonde had prepared for this morning's breakfast.   
"Sure.", she said with a small smile, taking the bottle.  
Kara went back to the stove, to make some for herself as well.   
When she was ready, she sat down next to Lena.   
For a while they ate in silence.

"Hey, are you sure that I should go to CatCo today? I can stay. James gave me an article to write but I can do that from here too.", Kara spoke up.  
"No, it's alright. You're barely getting out of the house lately because you've been so considerate. You need some time to yourself too sometimes. It's fine.", Lena replied, resting her hand on top of Kara's and giving it a little squeeze.   
Kara looked down at her pancakes and nodded. "Okay. I'll call you every now and then though. To check in on you and Lin."  
Lena smiled lightly. "I wouldn't expect any less."  
Kara chuckled and looked up at her girlfriend again when her smile faltered to make space for a surprised look.

Lena frowned, turning around slightly and was met with an unexpected sight.  
Linda had stood up from her place on the couch and was now walking towards them, seeming a little sheepish and timid.  
She came to a halt, near to the counter. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, fidgeting with the edge of her sweater and swallowed. "Can I get pancakes too?", she asked quietly.

Kara closed her mouth which had been standing open in surprise and nodded quickly as she broke into a wide smile, already jumping up from her chair and going around the counter back to the stove. "Of course! Sit down, I'll make you some."  
Linda still fumbled with her sweater when she slid onto the kitchen chair next to Lena, who couldn't help but gape at her. The CEO blinked a few times, then pulled herself together and looked down again.

Linda took a few deep breaths and swallowed again, apparently trying to gather up some courage for something but hesitating to go through with what she wanted to do.   
She closed her eyes, taking one last deep breath and then she leaned sideways until her head rested on Lena's shoulder.   
The latter was frozen in shock for a few seconds, not quite believing what was happening. She had thought maybe letting her hold her like that on the couch recently had been an exception - especially since Lena had more or less forced her to accept that hug, though the blonde let it happen and didn't seem too aversed to it.

But here she was now, seeking body contact all on her own.  
Lena breathed out with a relieved chuckle, lifting her arm around Linda's shoulder, gently pulling her closer and pressing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Pancakes coming right up, he-", Kara interrupted herself as she turned around with a plate in her hands, being taken off guard at seeing Linda cuddled into Lena's side.   
Lena beamed at her - happy tears in her eyes as she stroked Linda's shoulder with her thumb.  
Kara grinned brightly, feeling incredibly happy for Lena but for her sister as well because this meant that she really must be getting better.

Linda looked at her now, and a small smile spread over the blonde's face. Then she moved her head on Lena's shoulder to look up at her with her baby blue puppy eyes. She chewed on her lip a little, then she quietly said: "I love you."  
Lena seemed actually near tears now as she just choked out a joyous "I love you too."  
Linda lifted her head a little, giving the CEO a quick kiss on the lips before sheepishly straightening herself and tackling the pancakes which Kara had placed in front of her.

Kara and Lena looked at each other with the brightest smiles they had been able to muster in days. Things were turning out to be okay. 

So when Kara left to go to CatCo and Lena was left alone with Linda, she asked her what she would like to do. She asked if she would like to watch a movie or something and Linda shyly smiled as she responded. "I actually really want to go outside."  
Lena definitely had no problem with that. So after Linda had showered and gotten into some new, fresh clothes, they left the appartement.  
They didn't go anywhere specific - simply strolled around the area, through a park where they encountered a few dogs which Linda was very excited to pet.   
To end their little trip, Lena got them some ice cream for their way back home.

When they got there, Kara was just about to unlock the door.  
She looked up from her keys with a smile. "Hey, you two. What were you up to?"  
"We went for a walk. Lin wanted to get out of the house.", Lena responded.  
"We saw dogs!", Linda exclaimed with the sparkle in her eyes which had been missing for so long. "And we ate ice cream!"  
Kara feigned being offended. "You got ice cream without me?"  
Lena chuckled, leaning over for a kiss. "Sorry, love. You'll get two as an apology, the next time we go."  
Kara grinned. "I can live with that."

They stepped into their appartement and got out of their jackets and shoes.   
Linda quietly approached Lena, resting her chin on her shoulder. "Can we watch that movie now?"  
"Of course.", Lena answered.  
"Yay, movie time.", Kara rejoiced. "What movie are we watching?"  
Linda thought for a while before biting her lip. "Can we watch "The Great Gatsby"?"  
"Sounds good to me.", Lena said and Kara was quick to agree.   
So they cuddled up together on the couch and turned on the movie, for the first time in a long time genuinely enjoying themselves and just being happy that things were finally going back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy it


	22. Chapter 36A

A few more days passed by but with each day, it got better and better. With each passing das, Linda seemed to regain a small piece of her old happy, energetic self.  
She picked up a normal eating pattern again quite quickly and also seemed to find growing comfort in Lena's touch - she started seeking body contact all on her own more and more, much to both Kara's and Lena's relief.

They still took things slow at first as they didn't want to potentially overwhelm her, which meant that they continued to stay at home most of the time, cuddled together on the couch and watching movies. Sometimes they would take walks so they could get a breath of fresh air and help Linda adjust to the outside world again after almost two weeks.   
She didn't join on missions yet either, as Kara thought she should probably take some more resting time before joining the fights again.  
However after almost another week, they decided to reintroduce her to their former daily life.  
Before she went back to CatCo or did anything as Red Daughter though, there was one place where they could find most of their friends and which was the best place to start the reintegration into life, at least in Kara's opinion.   
She herself actually missed it too so this was an opportunity for both of them. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kara stepped into the DEO with a fast pace and a happy smile.  
Some agents turned, surprised to see her as she hadn't shown herself in almost two weeks. Since the incidents which involved her twin sister and caused her to step back - retrieve into the safety of home, to be there for her.  
However no one really dared to say anything as Kara passed them and simply raised their hand awkwardly while the blonde greeted quite happily.  
She was pretty determinedly walking towards a specific collection of people.

A few feet away, in the exact direction she was talking towards to, Alex was the first to take notice of her and she smiled brightly as she did.  
She nudged Nia, who had been meanwhile talking with Brainy, into the side.  
The younger woman turned and her face lit up upon seeing her friend and boss showing herself at the DEO after quite the long time.

"Hey, Kara! What are you doing here?", she asked, delighted.  
"I just wanted to check in. Finally. Also, there's someone who really wants to see you.", the blonde grinned, as she stepped to the side, giving view upon Lena who was holding Linda's hand and guiding her along inside of the DEO at the moment.   
The latter seemed quite nervous and embarrassed, especially considering the stares she got from the other agents.

Then she noticed Nia however and a bright smile spread upon her face. She starting waving excitedly as she saw the brunette.   
Nia let out a disbelieving laugh. "Sun puppy!"  
Linda gave Lena a quick kiss before letting go of her hand and taking fast steps forward to meet her friend, who had also taken off into her direction, halfway with a hug.  
"You're here! And you're feeling better!", Nia grinned into her shoulder.  
Linda nodded with a big smile. "I do!"

They pulled away after a few seconds and now Alex came forward as well with widely opened arms, leaning in to embrace her little sister with joy. "It's good to have you back, Lin."  
Linda cuddled into her arms, smiling contently.

Kara walked over to Nia who had stepped back to give the sisters some space.  
"She couldn't wait to see you. That was the main reason to come here actually.", she commented quietly with a chuckle, then sighed happily.  
Lena who had meanwhile joined them as well, added with a smile: "You know, I think your visit was what really turned things around."  
Nia blushed. "You think?"  
"Oh, definitely.", Kara replied, without a doubt. "Your friendship means the world to her."  
Lena nodded in agreement.  
Nia just smiled at them, then they were pulled out of their comfortable silence as Linda strolled back to them.

She grabbed Nia's arm, whispering with brightly shining puppy eyes: "I have Oreos. Do you want one?"  
Nia couldn't help but laugh. "If you're willing to share, sure."  
Linda grinned and nodded. She went over, giving Lena a quick kiss on the lips and both of her sisters one on the cheek, then turned back to Nia and, gently, dragged her along with her. 

Kara and Lena watched after them with amused and relieved smiles. They had really missed the simplicity of happiness.   
Kara put her arm around Lena's waist, pulling her closer. "Well, since we're just two at the moment, do you want to go eat something too?"  
"Sure.", Lena said with a mischievous smirk. "How about kale?"  
Kara's face fell in horror. "Oh Rao, please no. Anything but that."  
Lena laughed loudly, pressing a kiss on Kara's lips and running her arm over her back. "No worries, I'm just joking. Let's go get some potstickers. Sound better?"  
Kara beamed. "So much better."  
"Then let's go. But I'm warning you, you're not getting the last one."  
Kara gasped then thought for a few seconds and shrugged. "You know what? If there's anyone I would spare the last potsticker for, it's you."  
Lena's cheeks turned a little pink.

"Now, if that isn't a declaration of love, I don't know what is.", Alex said from behind them, as she watched them with crossed arms and an amused smirk.  
Kara rolled her eyes with a chuckle and stuck out her tongue at her.   
Lena laughed and shook her head. "I'm dating a five year old."  
Kara slung her arms around her waist. "But that's one of the things you like about me, right?", she asked, batting her eyes.   
Lena smiled as Kara repeated the sentence from the night where they had shared their first kiss. "Sure."  
Kara gave her a quick kiss, then took her hand. "C'mon. Those potstickers are waiting for us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it ^-^


	23. Chapter 37A

"I mean, are you _really_ sure this is a good idea?", Kara asked, with clear doubt in her voice. "I've attempted to do this countless times and everytime it has ended with blood, sweat and tears."  
"Kara, you can't bleed or sweat during something as mundane as this. It's gonna be fine. Besides you've never done that with me and I'm pretty good at it, so no worries.", Lena responded and patted her girlfriend's shoulder as she passed her. 

Kara still didn't look convinced. "I already feel sorry for this poor cake we're about to make.", she mumbled with a theatrical sigh.  
Linda giggled from the other side of the kitchen.   
"Alright, you two, gather around. We're gonna do this.", Lena exclaimed as she punched her fist into her hand.   
Kara cocked her head to the side and chuckled. The wine, which Lena had drunken before getting this idea of baking a cake together, seemed to take it's effect.   
She wasn't sure if she should really let her near any kitchen utensils in this state. Though she probably wouldn't be able to stop her anyway since Lena grew extra stubborn - and emotional - when she was tipsy. The last thing she wanted was for Lena to start pouting in an attempt of convincing her. Because she knew that Lena would do that. 

But it didn't have to come to that. She was just too happy to actually do this little activity together - though she knew that she was by far no master in baking. So many poor cookies had ended up burned black and crumbled and being tossed into the trash with a frustrated and slightly upset sigh.   
She enjoyed seeing her so enthusiastic about something. Seeing both Lena and Linda so happy and carefree again. Especially after what they had endured recently. 

So she shook her head with another chuckle and walked over, letting the brunette tell her what she should do.  
Some time later, she had been giving the order of weighing out the needed ingredients while Lena began making the frosting.

At some point, Lena looked down when some of the frosting got on her finger. For a second, she seemed to think. She glanced over at Kara who was weighing out the butter at the moment, the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration.   
Without second guessing, Lena moved her finger to Kara's face and wiped the frosting on her nose.  
Kara blinked in irritation and slowly turned her head.   
"Wow.", she said dryly. 

Both Lena and Linda were trying to stiffle their laughter by hiding their mouth behind their hand.   
Kara just stared for a moment, then with a quick swift motion she had grabbed a handful of flour and blew it off of her hand, straight into Lena's face.   
The brunette looked at her with wide eyes - now quite white around the nose. 

"Oh, it's on.", she said with a smirk.   
"Food fight!", Kara yelled, squealing when Lena dipped her finger into the frosting again and came for her.  
She ran once around the kitchen and just when Lena was chasing her into a corner and was already lifting her finger, Kara grabbed Linda by the shoulders and pulled her in front of her, ducking down behind her.  
Lena's finger met Linda's face, leaving a trail of frosting over her lip, making it look like she had a moustache.

For a fleeting moment, they all just stood in silence, then they broke out into laughter and now all three of them were involved in their little food fight.  
After a good few minutes, they finally came to a halt.   
Lena looked around the kitchen, with amusement. "So much for baking. There's more ingredients on the floor than on the counter. We'll have to clean that up first before we can go on."

The twins looked at each other and then both of them rushed through the kitchen. Just two seconds later, they were standing back in their place. The floor was as clean as ever.  
Lena chuckled. "It's really useful to have girlfriends with superspeed, I'll admit that."  
Kara and Linda grinned widely.   
"Alright then. Let's finish this cake."

They went back to the counter, to continue their work. They were calm enough that it was barely believable they had just been running around the kitchen and throwing food at each other like middle schoolers a few minutes ago. Only the occasional little giggle reminded of this fun little incident.

Lena looked down at the water bath she had prepared to melt the chocolate they needed. She pursed her lips. After a moment she looked to her left.  
"Lin, sweetie, would you mind?", Lena asked, making a hand gesture at the water bath. "Waiting until the water boils with the stove isn't gonna be as fast as you could make it."  
Linda seemed to need a second to understand but then she nodded excitedly with a bright smile. She turned to the pot, slightly slid her glasses down her nose and used her heat vision on the water. Within a few mere seconds, the water had started boiling and the chocolate in the pot above it had melted to the fullest. 

Lena smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, honey."  
Linda smiled proudly and looked over at Kara who watched the scene with a grin.  
The latter now came forward as well, wrapping her arms around Lena from behind. Lena turned her head to give her the same kind of quick kiss on the cheek which she had given Linda a few seconds ago. "You're doing great too, darling.", she chuckled, scrunching up her nose in happiness.  
Kara couldn't help the beam spreading across her face. 

"We're almost done.", Lena added and Kara let go of her, instead joining her sister and together they watched as their girlfriend made a few finishing touches before finally placing the form into the oven. Lena straightened herself with a content sigh. "And now we wait."  
The Danvers twins groaned, both not being very patient in these terms.  
Lena rolled her eyes with a smirk and stepped forward, taking both their hands and pulling them to the living room where they plopped down on the couch. 

Though time did pass quite quickly, the two blondes still rushed to the kitchen in a heartbeat, the second Lena announced that it was time to get the cake out.   
She almost got a heart attack when Kara simply reached in and pulled the form out. She forgot for a split second that her girlfriends were indestructable.  
Kara's mouth formed an 'o'-shape as she checked the baked good out.  
Lena walked over with a smirk. "Admiring your first successful cake?", she teased.  
Kara shrugged with a smile. "Oh, honestly, I don't know why I was worried. With you, anything's possible. Even me baking something without burning the house down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something sweet after all the drama and angst ^-^  
> Hope you like it :)


	24. Chapter 38A

"What do I do?", Linda asked with wide eyes. Kind of helpless, almost a little scared.   
Kara chuckled. "Don't worry. It's easy. You just sing. And have fun, that's important too."  
"Everyone's survived up karaoke night up to this point, so there's no need to be nervous.", Alex chimed in.   
Each of them held one of her hands as they dragged her forward to the stage of the bar.

They had been really excited to go to the bar, all together, after such a long time. It had been too long since the Superfriends had last all been together. Sure, Linda had returned to CatCo and to her duties as Red Daughter again. They saw and met each other every now and then, mostly at work.   
But it was about time that they would be doing something fun together again. They had thought about doing a game night but if they were honest, all three, Kara, Lena and Linda, were starting to get sick of sitting inside most of the time.

They wanted to get out of the house for more than just work and the occasional walk together.  
So, it came that they all made the plan of going to karaoke night together. It had been way too long since that they had done karaoke night anyway. They hadn't even introduced Linda to it yet and she had been with them for about a year now!That's how long ago it was. The opportunity just hadn't really ever arrived. So they definitely needed to catch up on that.

And after watching quite a few of the Superfriends and some random strangers too sing, the Danvers sisters decided it was time to get up there as a trio.  
Alex had already sung a duet with Kelly before which had ended abruptly as they forgot to watch the lyrics on screen - being too engulfed in looking at each other and breaking out into small fits of giggles every now and then.   
Kara would have sung a duet with Lena but Lena was very adamant about never ever singing and so she ended up singing alone on stage, but grinning brightly as she loudly dedicated the song to her girlfriend, making Lena blush a bright pink. Especially when she started singing this incredibly sweet song. 

[[The song she's singing](https://youtu.be/SL8VCJsHI4A) \- if you read 'My light in the dark', you might notice that I used this one in a scene once. Just fits them so well ^-^ ]

However when she started jumping around at the upbeat part of the song and danced around the stage, looking completely and utterly ridiculous but also so goddamn adorable, Lena laughed out loud and shook her head before burying her face in Linda's shoulder as the latter sat next to her, enjoying the scene greatly. 

_"You would never sleep alone_  
_I love you long after you're gone_  
_For you, for you_  
_Baby I'm not moving on_  
_I love you long after you're gone_  
_For you, for you_  
_You would never sleep alone_  
_I love you long, long after you're gone",_ Kara finished the song at last, a bright grin on her face.

She returned to her seat next to Lena's other side and was greeted with a chuckle and a deep kiss.   
Kara's grin only widened.   
They had watched a few more singers before Kara had excitedly suggested that the three Danvers sisters should sing together.  
Alex had been on board without a second guess and Linda had been more or less forced to accept as both of them had jumped to their feet and grabbed her hands, pulling her with them.

So now they made their way up. While Kara went to choose the song, Alex stayed at Linda's side.   
"All you gotta do is read the lyrics. The words appear right there on the screen.", Alex explained, pointing at said screen. "We'll give you a sign whenever it's your turn. And we'll sing the chorus together anyway so no worries."  
Linda swallowed but nodded. 

Then Kara joined them again with a bright smile.   
When the music started, Linda did grow a little nervous, especially looking at all these faces staring back at her.   
Then her eyes fell on Lena though who cast her a warm smile and gave a thumbs up.  
Most of the tension fell off of her and she returned the smile.

[[The song](https://youtu.be/jYS334xzYy8) \- I actually love this song a lot and when I listened to it recently, I noticed that the lyrics could fit the Danvers trio pretty well. And the beginning would fit Linda's perspective too, sooo... ^-^]

Kara began with the first verses.   
_"I tried on my own, I thought I'd get there_  
_Around and round, but I was only getting nowhere"_  
Alex took over for the next ones.  
_"Then you came along and gave me something_  
_Something that I could believe in, trust in"_  
Linda's eyes widened a bit when Alex nudged her into the side. The sign that was supposed to tell her it was her turn. She brought the microphone to her lips, eyes fixated on the screen. She had sung with her sisters and Lena before but never with a microphone. It felt weird. And she had to concentrate not only on getting the words right but on keeping her accent from shining through.   
She was rather quiet when she sang the next verse.  
_"And I won't go back again"_

However then the chorus arrived and as Alex had promised before, they both chimed in for that one. And after a few more seconds, Linda dared letting her voice grow a little louder.  
_"As long as I have you_  
_I can live like there's nothing left to lose_  
_Unbreak every fracture in my heart"_  
Linda couldn't help but swallow at this part. Considering the fact that her sister, both her sisters, and her friends, that Lena, had actually put her broken parts back together. Several times. After getting free of Lex, after the tragic events which occured some time ago. They had always been there for her, accepted her as their own. And they continued to do that.

Kara and Alex both seemed to notice that this song touched Linda in a very meaningful way and they smiled widely as they both slung their arms around her shoulders, continueing to sing.  
_"Nothing in this world could ever tear this love apart_  
_They say you gotta take the good with the bad_  
_I'll take it all as long as I have_  
_You."_

With each verse after that it got easier for Linda to enjoy herself. To realise that it wasn't as embarrassing or awkward to stand in front of a crowd of people as she had imagined. Or well at least that was because of her sisters, standing by her side.   
She really didn't fear anything when they were there. She would be fine as long as she had them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending sentence sounds kinda ominous. It's not supposed to. I promise nothing bad will happen! xD
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter:)  
> There's lots of lyrics there but I really think they give some depth to it.


	25. Chapter 39A

Kara was strolling alone through National City's streets. Since Lena was buried in work and Alex had taken Linda under her wing for the day, apparently wanting to show her something, she had decided this was a good time to run some errands.   
Which was always required and useful, considering there were two always-near-starving kryptonian stomachs to fill.

She hadn't even made it half of the way to the store though when a loud pain-filled screech hit her eyes, causing an aching beeping in her sound-sensitive alien ears and automatically making her place her hands over them which didn't help much.  
As the source couldn't be far, she ripped off her glasses, letting her suit materialise, and shot into the suspected direction. 

Upon arriving at the scene of events, she could instantly see a couple of firemen surrounding a metal fence which was covered in wires.  
She frowned and moved around to take a look at what was going on until her eyes finally fell on a puppy, whimpering and wincing. On of his front paws was stuck between two of the bars which stood so close to each other that he couldn't pull it back out on his own. Some of the wire had drilled into his paw, leaving patches of his fur red.

The firemen were currently trying to help. One held a small device and attempted to cut the bars through with it to free the dog.  
One of the bystanding firemen noticed her and stepped closer.  
"What happened?", Kara asked, eyes glued on the puppy which was howling and panting, obviously very distressed.  
"When we arrived there was a leftover baked good which someone apparently dropped in front of the bars. We suspect that he tried reaching it and then he got stuck. Assumably, his mother left him behind after realising she couldn't help him and that he would therefore be only a burden for the family."

Kara furrowed her eyebrows. She watched as the firemen were trying to cut his paw free and finally shook her head.  
"That won't do anything. They're only gonna end up hurting him. I can help.", she exclaimed and moved forward.   
When she kneeled down in front of them, one of the men looked over at the one Kara had just been talking to - apparently the boss of the situation.  
After he gave a short, form nod, the men retrieved and gave her space.

"Don't worry, buddy, I'll get you out of there.", Kara whispered.  
She placed both of her hands on either of the metal bars and pressed them away, bending them until the space was big enough. She carefully unwrapped the little dog's paw from the wire which had cut into his skin and then when he was finally free, lifted him up.  
She could feel how he was shaking. He was yelping, his pupiles were dilated.   
The paw which had been freed still seemed to bleed and it hang rather limply down his body.

One of the firemen approached with a blanket and Kara let him put it around the dog.   
"He needs a vet. Would you...? If you have time...", he asked, trailing off.  
Kara nodded. "Sure."  
With that, she took off, pressing the tiny animal in her arms closely to her chest as she flew to the nearest vet.

Arriving there, she instantly stormed to the front desk.   
The secretary was obviously startled to see none other than Supergirl walk into the building but as her eyes landed on the injured dog, she didn't waste any time before guiding her to a room, telling her that the little guy would be the top priority. As it was quite the emergency.

Kara had to leave him on the operating table where an assistent held him down while the vet got his gloves and instruments and everything else ready.  
She was accompanied back out by the secretary who asked whether she would be staying when she didn't show any signs of moving towards the door.  
Kara guessed that it would be suspicious if Supergirl decided to stay here and wait, instead of going out and possibly fighting another evil.  
So she said the first best thing that came to her mind. "No, unfortunately I can't stay. But um, my... good acquaintance, Kara Danvers, will come in a few seconds and she'll wait. She'll tell me what's going on."

The secretary nodded and with that, Kara left, coming back after a few minutes with her casual clothes. She went to the front desk to introduce herself and was told where she could wait.   
After thanking the secretary, she did just that. Wait. And hope that the little puppy was doing okay.

After almost an hour, she was called in to get the required update on his condition.   
She was led into the room and she had to gulp. They didn't even need to tell her anything, she could see damage.   
His left front paw, which had been the one to get stuck in the fence, was missing.  
A small bandage covered his stub.  
She only listened with one ear when they explained how the paw had to be amputated and instead watched the steady rise and fall of the tiny body - still asleep from the anaesthesia.

She only raised her head when the vet asked whether she would be willing to take him home with her as the only other way would be the animal shelter. That he was worried what they would do to a disabled dog and that Kara seemed to have taken a liking to him anyway. That if she had the capacity and the opportunity, the puppy would really benefit from a new cozy home. Especially now.  
Kara took a deep breath. She knew that she should technically be weighing out her choices first and definitely talk to Lena and Linda first. But one glance at his small sleeping fame was enough to let the agreement slip from her tongue.

She was given some papers and documents.   
They told her that they had already taken the chance of having him on the table to give him the most important vaccinations.   
She was given an appointment for a check-up on his healing process.  
And then they let her go with the dog wrapped again into the blanket and in her arms.   
"Oh Rao, I hope Lena's not gonna be mad.", Kara whispered. She moved one arm to softly stroke the puppy's head. "But how could she resist you?"

Moments later she arrived home, floating in through the window, just in time to see Lena pull of her shoes, apparently having just arrived minutes before as well.   
"Lena, please don't freak out.", Kara said.  
The brunette flinched and her hand shot to her chest. "Holy crap, don't scare me like that."  
Kara smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."  
Then Lena finally turned fully around and her face instantly fell when she saw the bundle in her arms. "What's that?"  
"Well, funny story, actually no, not funny at all. It's definitely not funny, it's very sad and-"  
"Kara.", Lena interrupted the nervous ramble.

Kara sighed and briefly explained what had happened before asking Lena to sit down with her. As they sat next to each other, Kara gently lifted the blanket so that the view on his paw, or more so lack of, was visible.  
Lena swallowed. "Oh."  
"The vet said that the animal shelter might not treat him well since disabled animals are harder to provide for and harder to place into families. He's afraid they might decide to put him down if they really don't end up finding a space for him.", Kara said sadly, crawling his ear.

The puppy was slowly waking up from his anaethesia and yawned. He licked Kara's hand, making the blonde smile.  
She looked up at Lena with big eyes.  
Lena meanwhile stared at the dog. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally released a deep breath.  
"Alright. He'll stay.", she said.  
Kara beamed and leaned forward to kiss her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"  
Lena rolled her eyes with a smile. She went to pet him as well. "Well what's his name then?"  
Kara thought for a second before tilting her head a little. "How about Lucky? Considering you know-...", she trailed off.  
Lena smiled. "I like that."

They continued to simply sit still and pet their newest family member for several minutes before trying to set him down and see how well he would manage to get forward on three paws.   
He stumbled quite a lot but he seemed as lively and joyful as a dog could only be, not even appearing distressed by the absence of one of his paws at all. Which was a good sign because that had to mean that he didn't seem to be in pain.  
They watched him run around, land on his nose several times and excitedly snoop around the appartement, as if he knew that this was gonna be his new home.

At some point, the front door opened and Linda came in. She was holding a motorcycle helmet under her arm.   
However when she saw the little dog running around the appartement, she took in a very long gasp, wide-eyed.   
"Puppy!", she finally exclaimed in a high pitched voice, placing the helmet on a counter next to the door and rushing forward to sit down on the ground and take a look at the dog. She tilted her head when she saw his missing paw. "He's hurt."  
"Yeah but we're gonna take care of him now.", Lena said with a smile.  
"He's part of the family now.", Kara added happily.  
Linda's eyes widened again and she looked down at the puppy again, a big grin spreading across her face. She stretched out her hand, letting Lucky sniff it and when he booped his own nose against her hand, she giggled. "I like you."

Kara chuckled, then her eyes landed on the helmet again. "Hey, what's up with that by the way?", she asked, pointing at it.  
Linda just briefly turned around, her attention very quickly back with Lucky. "Alex gave it to me. She wants to get a new motorcycle and I can have her old one. She'll teach me how to drive."  
Kara and Lena were quite surprised by this announcement and they tried to get more information but that was basically impossible as Linda only brightly smiled at the dog who had waddled and had pretty much let himself fall into Linda's lap.  
Linda hummed quietly, stroking his head.  
With the help of her superhearing she could hear Linda's very quietly, very softly spoken words. "We're your family now. We'll protect you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a comment recently which suggested a puppy coming in and tbh it hadn't been part of the plan. It was a very spontaneous addition. I finished the chapter a minute ago, that's how spontaneous it was haha. I just really liked the idea, so thank you at the person who commented that! ^-^  
> Hope you'll enjoy it.


	26. Chapter 40-A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta thank pclauink at this point for giving me so many amazing ideas in the comments ^-^   
> This fanfic really grows longer thanks to you ^-^

The whole group watched the newest addition to the Luthor-Danvers family jump around and continously stumble over. No one being able to help the adoring smile spreading across their smile every time he fell on his nose, only to shortly shake himself and get back up to continue throwing his playtoy around.

"You know, I have to say I was a bit surprised when you said you adopted a dog but Lucky really is a great little guy.", Alex chuckled. "Definitely the right choice."  
"Yeah.", Kara smiled. "I already can't imagine life without him anymore to be honest. And it's only been two days."  
Lena and Linda chimed in with an agreement.

"Where does he sleep?", Kelly wanted to know and as if to underline her question, looked around to find the bed.  
"He sleeps in our bed.", Lena said, sounding rather disapproving. "Now we're in there and it gets rather stuffy."  
Kara rolled her eyes. "Oh don't pretend like you don't want him to sleep there.", she said. She turned to the Superfriends and pointed at her girlfriend. "She was the first one to lift him up into the bed."

Lena blushed, especially when the others started chuckling. "Well, he was trying to jump up on his own but he kept falling because he couldn't get a grip. He was gonna end up hurting himself.", she tried justifying herself.   
Kara giggled, patting her shoulder. "It's okay, you can say you're a big softie. We all know."  
Lena threw her a look and Kara raised her hands in defeat, though she continued to cackle quietly.

Kara looked at her twin sister, who had sat down on the ground and had started to play with Lucky.   
She seemed to be very keen on keeping the dog company and showering him in love. Kara assumed that she had seen a lot of parallels between herself and the dog.  
Both had been abandoned, alone and hurt, with barely any actual life experience when they had been found by Kara and brought into the family. Both had been seeking the love and comfort of a home, a real home, and a family to call their own.   
That's why Linda had made it her obligation to protect Lucky and be there for him best as she could. Because that's what Kara had done for her when she had needed it.   
And now that she had the opportunity to show someone else the same kind of compassion she had been shown, she didn't want to waste it.

However though the rest of the Superfriends had only been introduced to him that day, they too would already vow to protect the little puppy on the spot. He had a way of infecting people with his joy and zest for life. He had a way of buying the love of others with a simple, well placed puppy eyes look.   
The women of the group instantly melted at the sight, too overwhelmed by the cuteness. But even the guys seemed barely able to contain themselves, though they tried. Kara and Linda both heard very well how they all spoke in high-pitched baby voices with the puppy whenever they thought no one would hear them, which made the twins grin at each other. 

Brainy had even gone as far as calculating their chance of happiness with their new fuzzy companion at their side and had landed on a percentage of 97%.   
Though neither of the three actually needed to hear that to know it.  
They just knew from the start that this had been the best possible thing to happen to them. All three loved the dog like their own flesh and blood after just these few days.

In conclusion, all of the Superfriends were so enchanted by the little guy that the originally supposed-to-be game night turned into a night of only watching Lucky toll around and each taking turns in playing with him.

At one point though, Lena pulled Alex aside.  
"I was thinking about something and I'd like to know your opinion and also if you would be willing to help."  
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, shoot. What's up?"  
"I want to build a prosthetic for Lucky. But I want to find a way to improve the possible ones already out there. Sure they do their job but they're quite stiff and unhandy. I want to create one which will enable him to run around freely, no restrictions at all. I want to revolutioniose prosthetics for dogs. Give them a better chance.", Lena explained. "But I might need some help. I'll definitely need better material and instruments. Which the DEO surely has access to. So. What do you say?"

Alex blinked a few times before breaking into a smile. "Sure. You can have a lab at the DEO, I'll try to give you the best material and the best engineers available at our rrganisation."  
The corners of Lena's lips curled up. "Thank you. I know it's a lot to ask for a dog but-"  
"Are you kidding me? If this actually works - and I'm sure it will since it's you, we're talking about here -, this might chance the lives of millions of dogs and many other animals which the technique could be adjusted to. Sounds pretty important to me."  
Lena smiled and nodded. "I'm happy you think that way."  
Alex returned the gesture and shortly squeezed her shoulder in a friendly manner before they returned back to the others who are currently all getting ready to get home as it had gotten very late.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"And this will help him to walk?", Linda asked curiously as she eyed the metal which Lena gently pulled over Lucky's front leg and there adjusted it to fit snuggly. 

She had worked on the prototype for several weeks, determined to get it to absolute perfection. She had spent quite a lot of time at the DEO labs. Alex had always paid her visits, asking whether she could help with anything or if she maybe needed something.   
She had told neither Kara nor Linda what exactly it was that caused her to work extra shifts or why she would occasionally take Lucky with her to the DEO. She had tried the first few prototypes alone, wanted to really be sure that it was the best it could be before she showed her girlfriends what she had been working on She had wanted it to be a surprise.

And now that it was ready, she was both excited and nervous what they would think.  
"Yes, Lin, essentially this will help him walk.", Lena smiled. "He might need a while to adjust to it. He'll have to wear it for some time and we'll have to see whether that's safe or not. Or if he might develop a rash or something that shows the size is wrong or the material isn't sitting well."  
Kara watched her happily. "You're simply amazing for doing this.", she sighed. "It's so great that you're giving him the chance at a regular life. Regular meaning not tripping every few seconds."

"Well if this is gonna work, this will help more than just him alone.", Lena said, finally letting him loose when she had finished adjusting prosthetic.  
She smirked as she looked after Lucky who had run off. He stopped abruptly and seemed to be confused about the fact that he could actually run without falling. Then he gave a bark and took off again, apparently overjoyed at this new possibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy it! :))


	27. Chapter 41A

(A few months later)

"Come on, Lucky, come on!", Kara cooed, making kissing sounds and slapping her legs in an attempt to animate the dog who was laying on his back and looking rather unimpressed. Kara stemmed her hands in the sides. "You know you're adorable so I can't get mad at you but I'm really frustrated. We gotta put your prosthetic on, buddy."

By now, the prostethic leg for the puppy, who didn't exactly count as a puppy anymore since he had grown to be twice his original size in the past months, had been perfected by Lena to a level which had enabled it to be mass produced.  
L-Corp was now, amongst other things, known for revolutionising prosthetics for animals.  
Some other engineers and scientists even guessed that it could be adapted to prosthetics for humans as well. But Lena had given that into the hands of other great companies.  
She had already reached her goal and now she had wanted to be able to spend more time with her little family again.  
Since she had already given the starting ground, there would be no big issue for others to continue the work of applying the formula to human prosthetics.

In Lucky's case, he had grown accostumed to it very quickly and he was using it perfectly. However, putting it on always required a little convincing. They took it off after a specific amount of time so that he wouldn't develop any injuries. Though the prosthetic was made to be as comfortable and feel as realistic as a prosthetic could possibly be, it could still cause chafing after too many hours. 

Kara sighed. "Come on, buddy, we wanna go to the DEO! You like the DEO!"  
"What's he doing?", Linda asked, as she came out of the bedroom after having changed.  
"Nothing.", Kara responded. "That's the problem. Look at him."  
Lucky yawned and lightly wagged his tail, still showing no sign of wanting to interact at all.

Linda chuckled and looked back at her sister. "You need help?"  
"Yes please.", Kara said.  
Linda grinned. "Lucky, come here, boy.", she exclaimed in a sweet voice.  
The dog's ear twitched and not even a second later, he had rolled around and gotten to his paws. He jumped towards Linda, panting happily as the latter started scratching his ear. "Good boy.", she smiled.  
She glanced up at Kara who was taking a pout and crossed her arms.  
"That's so unfair. Why is he listening to you and not me?"  
Linda shrugged with a giggle.

Kara shook her head, not quite being able to surpress the smile either and walked over to put on his prosthetic.  
Just as she was finished, Lena joined them from the bathroom where she had been taking a shower.  
"Ready to go?", Kara asked.  
Both Linda and Lena nodded.  
So they made their way to the DEO where several agents greeted them, well mainly Lucky, with a bright smile. The little guy had bought his way into every single person's heart.

Alex came closer. "Hey, guys, sorry, I know you just arrived but there's an attack on an immigration centre nearby. The police are already on their way but I think you should go too. Until they're there, someone could already be hurt."  
Kara and Linda, who were basically immigrants too, - with Kara being from literally a different planet and with Linda having her roots in Kaznia - were instantly on high alert and nodded fiercely as they looked at each other.  
Kara handed the dog leash to Lena who would obviously remain at the place.  
A few seconds later, they were shooting out of the DEO.

And sure enough, there was a crowd in front of the small building, an immigration centre. The newly arrived -immigrants were pressing themselves against each other, most fearful and terrified. The children amongst them were crying as they didn't know what was going on. A few brave ones tried taking defensive stances and braced themselves for the worst.

Some of the attackers were simply holding up posters with incredibly disgusting racist words and shouting angrily. Others were wearing masks and holding knives, obviously meaning to cause more than just emotional harm.  
A significant amount fled the scene when they saw the Kryptonians arriving. The rest wasn't as smart.

Kara and Linda landed and took up the fight.  
While they were battling the attackers, the terrified people took the chance to scatter, while some ran inside.  
After a few minutes, the police arrived.  
The two superheroines left their defensive stances.

"I'll go inside and see if everything's okay there.", Linda announced and as Kara nodded, she sped inside the building.  
Kara stayed outside.  
She scanned her surroundings to see if there was anyone left, either one of the protestors or someone who needed help.  
And sure enough, there was suddenly a boy coming out of a bush, hastily looking around, apparently trying to figure out if the attackers were gone. Kara couldn't see his face but from his body posture, she could tell he was scared. 

"Hey, kid! You okay? You don't have to be afraid, everything's alright again.", she said loudly, trying to sound as comforting as she could from the distance.  
The boy turned around. So now, Kara could see his face.  
And for some reason he looked really familiar - she was sure she had seen him somewhere before.  
The little boy stared at Kara for a few seconds. Then he took off, running straight towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist. He held onto her as if his life depended on it.  
Kara frowned. She put her hands on the boy's shoulders, gently pushing him from her so she could lean down and look into his face.  
The boy was smiling brightly but upon seeing her confused face, his smile faltered and instead he furrowed his brows. 

"Uh, do I know you?", Kara asked.  
"You don't remember?", the little boy replied with another question, obviously very disappointed and upset. He had a thick accent which Kara easily identified as russian.  
"I- I don't know wh-", Kara began but she interrupted herself when she heard Linda land on the ground a few feet away. She looked over.  
Linda had been smiling but her expression fell when she saw the little boy in front of Kara.  
Kara heard her heart skipping a beat and her breathing picking up in speed and intensity. 

She looked like she had seen a ghost - and in a way, she did.  
The eyes of the boy widened as he looked back and forth between Kara and Linda, not understanding what he was seeing.  
Then Linda finally gathered up the ability to speak - though it came out very shaky and like her voice would crack any second. "Mikhail."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise ^-^  
> Hope you like it!


	28. Chapter 42A

" _Mikhail_."

  
The boy's, Mikhail's, eyes lit up as he realised that this was the woman who he had wanted to see. Who he had thought to have seen when he met Kara.   
The woman who had saved him from thieves and had been there for him so long ago. His hero.  
He loosend himself from Kara and ran over to Linda, who fell to her knees and embraced him as he threw himself into her arms.   
Tears quickly rose into Linda's eyes as she held the boy tightly - not being able to believe that he was still alive. She had believed for more than a year that he was dead - in fact, his supposed death had been the reason for her intense hatred of Americans in the beginning in the first and why she would have done anything to help Lex destroy them. Before she realised that he was the bad guy of the story, that is.   
Now she knew that the Luthor was even more cunning and deceitful than she had originally assumed.  
Mikhail's death had been a lie - a ploy to pull her on his side. No shame at all about it.

Kara watched the heartwrenching scene and felt incredibly happy but also sorry for both of them.  
They had missed each other for such a long time, not knowing what had happened to the other, not knowing about the actual fate of them.  
However, it did explain why Kara hadn't been able to pinpoint who the boy was but why he did look familiar to her. She had only ever seen one photo of Mikhail - in the notebook which she had found in the copy of her own appartement, back before Linda had switched to the good side. Not enough to recognize him instantly in real life but enough to get the feeling of a hunch.

The two now pulled away from each other.  
Linda cupped Mikhail's face and she studied him with teary eyes and a quivering lip. Almost as if she was still trying to figure out whether this was actually happening. Whether he was actually there in front of her.  
"What happened?", she finally asked. The encounter seemed to enforce the heaviness of her russian accent, which had slowly started to fade, even in her identity of Red Daughter, over the past year living in National City. 

Mikhail started talking - assumbly explaining everything which had been going to her but Kara couldn't understand a lot as he talked in russian. While she knew the one or other word because of her sister, she was by far not fluent.  
Linda listened very attentively to every word he said.  
When he had finished, she took a deep shaky breath and hugged him again.  
"If only I'd known-", Linda whispered with a trembling voice. "I would have looked for you."

After a few more minutes, she stood up, taking his hand into her's and guiding him to Kara who beamed at them.  
Linda smiled back. She looked down at Mikhail who tilted his head.   
"This is Kara. She's my sister.", she said in russian but Kara was able to understand it this time as she recognized her name as well as the word "sister".   
Kara reached out her hand.  
" _Pivet_ , Mikhail.", she grinned. "Nice to meet you."  
Mikhail stared at her hand for a few seconds, then he took her hand and lightly shook it as the corners of his lips moved upwards as well.

They ended up taking him with them as they flew back to the DEO.  
Several agents looked at them confused when they brought in a child - especially Lena when she looked around to welcome the two. Lucky who had been laying at her feet, jumped up at the sight of the twins and excitedly wagged his tail.

While Lena smiled kindly at the boy, the confusion clearly stood in her eyes.   
"Hey, sunshine.", Kara said, giving her a quick kiss - which Linda repeated after her.   
Mikhail tilted his head a little when he saw them both kiss the brunette in front of him, not quite understanding what was going on but he stayed quiet.  
Linda came back to his side, standing behind him and resting her arms around his shoulders.  
"This is Lena. And Lena, this-", she said. The Luthor looked at her expectantly, hoping for an explanation as to why there was a child with them and why Linda seemed so attached to him. The blonde sighed happily as she continued: "This is Mikhail."  
Lena's eyes widened. Linda had only once talked about Mikhail - describing him as someone who had been very important to her but had been killed in Kaznia. Killed by American weapons. However that was obviously not the case.

"What exactly did happen though? What did he tell you?", Kara asked curiously.   
Linda summarised the situation. "He had been living alone with his mother but when she died, some other emigrants offered to take him with them so he could start fresh in America - maybe find a family. He agreed and they took him under their wing. However, they got seperated on the way. He somehow still found his way to the immigration centre, even though there was already that protest. And then we met him."

Kara as well as Lena glanced down at the boy, looking at them with sad eyes, then turned to each other. One thing was sure, Mikhail and Linda couldn't be seperated again. Logically, there was only one possible way to fix it.  
There would be some paperwork, some legal measures to take - but they both knew that it needed to be done. Mikhail needed to stay with them. With Linda.  
They would be his new family.

Lena smiled, looking from Mikhail to Linda to Kara. "Well, it's a good thing our appartement has a guest room. I guess that's going to be occupied from now on."  
Linda beamed at them, looking down at Mikhail and whispering something in russian again. From the way he started to smile, it seemed to be the confirmation that he could stay with them.  
She stepped beside him again and took his hand, leading him forward.   
"There's one more who you have to meet now because he's living with us too.", Linda exclaimed. She kneeled down in front Lucky who wagged his tail once more. She gently pulled Mikhail closer.   
He seemed to be intimidated by the dog at first but after a few seconds, he realised that he was no threat and crouched down as well before reaching out his hand. As a response, Lucky licked over it, making the boy giggle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it ^-^


	29. Author's Note

Heyyy, sorry this isn't an actual chapter. I gotta say something.

You may know by now that I originally put this up on instagram and just edited this a whole bunch. Well, this was originally the ending. I did manage to add 10 more chapters inbetween though haha!  
Anyways, I really want to continue this fanfic and show some more about their lives. And I definitely will. But it will take a few days because I'm currently writing my finals so I have very little time because of studying and I just can't write this story during that time.   
By next week, I'll be done with the written exams and I'll continue writing as fast as possible at that point, I promise!  
I hope you understand and aren't too disappointed or anything :)

P.S.: I will post chapters on version B though because I actually still have finished chapters for that one which I just have to upload. I hope you'll enjoy those (if you're reading that version too ^-^ )

Thank you for your time and for reading! I'll see you either in version B or next week! ^-^


	30. Chapter 43A

Soon after Mikhail had been introduced to Lena, as well as Lucky, the next person he would have to get to know arrived. None other than Alex.  
As she came closer, she didn't seem very surprised about the fact that an apparently random child was with them - the news about the mystery guest had probably spread around quite fast inside of the DEO and as the Director, she had caught wind of that information as one of the first people of course.  
However she obviously couldn't know who he exactly was yet or how important of a change this actually was for Linda as well as the trio's whole future.

Alex smiled kindly down at Mikhail who was currently sitting on the floor and petting Lucky. She gave him a little greeting in form of a hand wave before turning to her sisters and silently asking for an explanation with a simple look. The two could instantly understand what she wanted.   
Linda took it upon herself to re-tell the summarised story again and to enlighten her.   
Alex's eyes widened as she listened - she seemed completely baffled by the fact that the kid from Kaznia, who was supposed to be dead, who had caused Linda to join Lex for good back then in the first place and who she herself had only heard from once before in fact, was actually alive.   
Alive and well, just sitting there and crawling the dog behind his ears - without much of a worry.

Alex blinked a few times. Looking back and forth between Mikhail and her sister a few times.  
"But how did he survive the bombing of his house then?", she asked in a hushed voice, looking quite puzzled.  
"Lex Luthor must have - ", Linda interrupted herself as her eyes seemed to zone out. Her jaw clenched.   
"Lin?", Kara frowned, looking at her from the side with confusion.   
" _этот ублюдок_.", she mumbled. [" _That bastard._ "]   
Only now must she have fully realised the full extent of what had happened. She had known as soon as she had seen Mikhail that Lex certainly took advantage of her grief. 

In that moment, she had been so overwhelmed with emotion that she hadn't thought to think deeper about it. But now she realised how this whole thing was just way too interrelated to be coincidental.   
She realised that Lex had plotted this - as a plan to pull her on his side.  
He had used Mikhail to get to her. That was unforgivable in her eyes.

And then, without another word or without any kind of warning, she had supersped away.   
For a second, they all stared after her with bewilderment. Kara seemed to be the first to understand what must be going on inside of her.  
"Oh Rao, please no.", she sighed and used her own superspeed to follow her.

She was lead to the prison cells of the DEO. Kara arrived just in time to see the opened cell of Lex Luthor who had been grabbed by the collar and was now lifted into the air only to be slammed down onto the hard ground.   
"Crap.", Kara exclaimed, rushing in. "Lin, stop!"  
Linda's eyes stared down onto Lex, coldly and with a dangerous glint in them. The same kind of anger and resentment she had seen in her eyes the day that she tried to kill her. And would almost have succeeded, hadn't it been for the newfound ability of pulling sunlight out of the ground.

"He took him away from me.", Linda snarled. "He lied to me, manipulated me. He made me a monster!"  
"You're not a monster.", Kara said softly, slowly walking closer with raised hands, trying her best to make her feel safe. "He is. But that doesn't define you. Don't let him make you do something you'll regret. That day, we brought you into our family, you said yourself you wanted to be a hero. That you don't want to kill anymore."  
"I don't.", Linda said through gritted teeth, tears of anger in her eyes.   
"Then let him go. As long as he's in here, he can't hurt anyone anymore. Believe me, I've wanted to come here and give him what he deserves many times too. But we can't do that. It's not right.", Kara explained. "Think about Mikhail. He needs you now. He needs someone to look up to, who will take care of him. You don't want to be that kind of role model, do you?"

Linda finally looked up. Her expression had changed. She stayed silent for a while, only breathing heavily.   
She looked back down at Lex. She pressed her eyes tightly shut for a second and strengthend her grip around his collar. Then she abruptly let go and straightened herself. She stared at Lex as she shook her head. "You're not worth it."  
She turned on her heel, only stopping shortly as Kara placed a hand on her shoulder to give it a little squeeze and then walked out of the district.  
Kara took a deep breath before turning to leave as well.

"What the hell was that?", Lex exclaimed, angrily, as he struggled to get into a sitting position and fixed his collar.  
"We found Mikhail. The kid from Kaznia who you pretended Americans killed so that Linda would turn on them.", Kara said curtly.   
Lex stared at her. "He's alive?"  
Kara narrowed her eyes. "You didn't know?"  
"Of course not. Do you seriously think I'd risk the exposure of my plans?", he hissed.  
Kara scoffed. "Wow. That makes it even worse. I didn't think that was possible but I shouldn't be surprised, considering it's you, we're talking about here."  
She shook her head as she closed the cell securely again and returned to the others.   
As she arrived back with the others, Linda had wrapped Mikhail back into her arms and had closed her eyes, apparently trying to convince herself once more that this was indeed happening. That he really was alive, that she really had him back.

Kara exchanged a glance with Lena. Both of them seemingly thinking the same thing. Linda had rarely ever acted like this, so protective, so enraged. Sure she grew protective very quickly if Lena was threatend, at times when her friends, especially close ones like Nia, were in possible danger. But never to an extent like this.  
Because most of the time she was the one seeking touch and comfort from people she held dear. The way she was holding Mikhail now showed all too clearly how much she had missed him, how much he still meant to her though they had been apart for so long.  
They had decided to take Mikhail in and let him live with them before already. But now they knew _for sure_ that they could just not let anything come between those two again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, I'm finally back on track with this one. I really hope I can update daily as usual. Doing my best!


	31. Chapter 44A

Kara opened the door to their appartement. Before the door was even fully opened, Lucky had squeezed through the narrow space between her legs and the doorframe to get in and run forwards to tackle one of his toys, making Kara chuckle and shake her head.   
She opened the door fully, stepping into the appartement and holding the door open for the rest of them to enter.

She kindly smiled down at Mikhail. "Well, welcome to your new home, buddy."  
The boy returned the gesture and walked in, closely by Linda's side, looking around with wide eyes. He was obviously astonished by the size of the place. Just the living room was almost bigger than the little house he had been living in with his mother, back in Kasnia. Before everything had changed, that is.

Lena, who noticed his fascination, smirked lightly. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Kara had the same expression when she visited for the time and now she basically can't imagine ever having lived in a small appartement like she did before. She's very spoiled."  
Kara audibly gasped. "I'm not!"  
Lena chuckled. "Don't pretend like I didn't catch you drink water out of a wine glass recently."  
"Wha- I- The other glasses were all in the dishwasher! I didn't have any other choice!", Kara spluttered.  
Lena nodded with her lips pursed in amusement. "Of course you didn't."

Linda meanwhile shook her head, trying to stiffle her laughter. And Mikhail seemed to struggle with the same thing. He didn't know as well what was going on as he still wasn't too fluent in english and both of the women were speaking rather fast but he understood enough to know that he was a really lucky kid to have ended up with people who were obviously so loving and caring. He could tell that they all loved each other dearly. 

There was unfortunately still a lot of resentment and hate towards homosexuality.  
Mikhail himself had never really understood what was supposed to be wrong with it. His mother had raised him very open-mindedly and had explained to him very early that acceptance and equality was important.  
But it had still been sort of an adjustment - seeing displays of affection which would have been so quickly doomed in Kasnia.   
As well as the fact that it wasn't just Kara and Lena or Linda and Lena but all three who were in a relationship together.   
He didn't have a problem with it because he could tell that it made them happy and he was a rather smart kid for his age to know that you shouldn't judge something if it didn't hurt anyone. It was just a foreign concept, something he had never been introduced to before. He was already growing accustomed to it after just these few first hours though.

When Lena and Kara finally stopped their playful bickering, ending it with a giggly kiss, Lena turned back to Mikhail and smiled, asking if he would like to see his new room. Which he obviously did.   
She led them all along to the guest room which had been used only a very few times. They would have to make the bed and put on a fresh duvet cover since that room hadn't been touched in a very long time.   
She opened the door. It was a rather small room, at least in comparison to the rest of the appartement. It was rather simple. There wasn't any decor, just a bookshelf, with two old books with a thin layer of dust and a plastic plant, and a closet. Red curtains covered the two windows. The bed was a light brown color, rather big, and accompanied by a nightstand in the same color.  
Any other child would probably be rather disappointed.

However, for Mikhail this was almost luxurious.  
Thinking back to his old room and his old bed. All worn out, dirty and on the verge of falling apart. His bed had been nothing more than an old mattress with more holes than one could count and a scratchy blanket which didn't even protect from the cold very much. Not to mention the bedbugs which he would try to get rid of night after night before going to sleep.   
He hadn't even ever dared to dream about having a real bed in a room like this. But now he did and he didn't even know how to react. He felt like screaming and crying out of joy but he was stunned into absolute silence.

Linda looked at him knowingly. She could empathize with his emotions very well. She too had experienced them.  
In Kasnia she had slept in what could be called a prison cell with barely any light coming through. Sleeping on a cold hard metal bed with a single pillow and a thin blanket, neither giving much comfort or warmth.  
When Lex had brought her to America, she had experienced what it felt like to sleep on an actual bed for the first time and it had had a similar effect on her as it had on Mikhail now.  
By the time she had then moved in with Kara, she had been used to the bed situation. But then she had learned a different aspect, something she had never considered possible before. Something that gave more comfort than any blanket or pillow ever could. Not having to sleep alone. To know that someone was there who would hold her hand or embrace her in their arms in case she had a nightmare or even just sought company.

She slowly placed her arm around Mikhail and pulled him close. She wanted to give him the same feeling of safety that Kara, and later Lena as well, had given her. She didn't want him to ever feel alone again. And she would make sure, he didn't. 

After a while they all scattered to prepare the bed and the covers of the pillows as well as the blanket. As well as brush away the thin dust layer on the shelf as well as the nightstand.   
And later that day, when it was time to get to bed, Linda accompanied Mikhail there. She sat on the edge of the bed, watching him get under the covers und how his eyes lit up upon experiencing the comfortability of an actual bed for the first time.   
She smiled softly and while fumbling with her fingers, she told him that he could always come to her if something was wrong. Just like Kara had always made sure that she knew that she could count on her in case of any nightly terrors. 

Mikhail nodded, his cheeks a little blushed.   
Linda shot him a last smile and then went to get up. She was held back by Mikhail's hand gently grabbing her arm and when she turned to him again, he had moved up to his knees and hugged her.   
Linda was a little startled at first but then the corners of her lips raised themselves again and she wrapped her own arms around him. 

After pulling away, Mikhail disappeared back under the blanket.   
Linda sighed happily and made her way to the door, looking back at him.  
" _спокойной ночи,_ Mikhail.", she whispered. [" _Sleep well, Mikhail_."]  
Then she turned off the lights and joined Kara and Lena who were waiting on the couch, both greeting her with a bright smile as they all cuddled together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this one!


	32. Chapter 45A

As the alarm for work started ringing, the three women all groaned in the same kind of annoyed, sleepy tone.   
They untangled themselves from each other, as they all had either an arm or a leg around, under or linked into that of another. Kara, being the one who slept next to the nightstand, turned to around to put the alarm out and stretched herself, yawning.   
She looked to the other side. Lena right next to her and a little further Linda.  
Usually Lucky lay somewhere either at their feet or inbetween someone's legs but this night he had stolen away to sneak into Mikhail's room. Of course the door had been closed though, so he had nudged Linda's arm until she had been awake and could comply to his wish of keeping the new kid in their household company.

Now the three slowly started rolling out of bed.  
While Kara and Lena already looked for fresh clothes, Linda went out of the room and towards the guest room, which was now Mikhail's room. While taking the short walk, she seemed to think about what to do.  
As Mikhail wasn't going to school, considering he just arrived in America shortly before, he didn't have anywhere to go while they were at Catco.   
She didn't really want to leave him alone.   
So without further ado, she told him to get dressed as well and to come along.   
Her sister had told her that there had been children at CatCo before who didn't have anywhere else to go during that time. Which was why James had once brought along a little alien boy or why Kara had once babysitted Cat Grant's son Carter in the building.   
So that wouldn't be an issue. 

She opened the door and peeked in, seeing that Mikhail was still fast asleep. Lucky was cuddled against his back, his body peacefully rising and falling as well.  
The blonde smiled softly and stepped closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed before gently touching the boy's shoulder.   
It didn't take long to wake him.   
" _доброе утро_.", Linda smiled. [" _Good morning._ "]  
Mikhail returned the gesture. 

Linda rushed away to bring Mikhail the small bag with some spare clothes. He didn't have much of course since he couldn't have taken too much on the journey. And he hadn't had too many things back in Kasnia anyway.   
The blonde made a mental note that they would definitely have to buy him some clothes and other things after finishing their work day at CatCo later. 

After they had all gotten ready and dressed, they moved to the kitchen for breakfast.   
Which was yet another highlight for Mikhail. Not only the quality and amount of food available but also the fact that he got to eat with someone else.   
When he had still lived with his mother, before she had died, he barely ever got to see her. She left early in the morning and came back late in the evening, to work, so that he would have any food at all.  
And while they were in their way to America, there hadn't been any actual meals either, just quick snacks every now and then. 

All three couldn't help but smile at the shimmer in his eyes and the way he first only hesitantly started eating. Before then downright bolting the food down until Kara couldn't stiffle her laughter anymore and assured him that nobody would take it away from him and that he could take his time.  
Mikhail only responded with a sheepish smile.

Soon enough after they had finished, they got ready to go.   
Usually Lena and Kara would both each get to work by car, mostly driving together and Lena dropping her off at CatCo before continueing her way to L-Corp. Linda on the other hand would take her motorcyle which she was proudly owning for the last few months.  
It had been passed down onto her by Alex who had decided to get a new one and since she knew of Linda's fascination with it, she had given her old one to her. And just like the leather jacket she had gifted her, Linda cherished it. Thanks to her kryptonian abilities and Alex's help, she had learned how to drive with it over the span of a few days and had thus probably become one of the fastest people to get a driving license. Since no one had been able to deny that she could do it.

However since Mikhail would need a helmet, there wasn't really a way for him to come along and Linda wasn't sure whether he would feel comfortable enough to drive alone with Kara and Lena so they both joined in on the car ride.  
Upon arriving at CatCo, some people in their floor did look after him considering the presence of a kid with them but no one really seemed to care enough to ask.

They met Nia on their way and had a little small talk, then they all moved along to their respective work places. Mikhail followed Linda who also got a second chair so he could sit down.   
She tried to explain to him what she was doing so he wouldn't get too bored. He seemed to be quite interested though and time actually flew by pretty fast.  
Soon, they were able to leave again.

They didn't instantly return home though because as Linda had made sure to remember before, Mikhail needed some clothes and stuff and they had to take care of that.   
Lena picked them up and they drove to the nearest mall.  
Linda also made plans with them to enroll Mikhail in school soon as he could use the education and he also couldn't go with her to CatCo forever.

But first came the shopping. They went through a few different shops so that Mikhail had a wider variety of opportunities. The boy seemed to be a little embarrassed at first about the fact that they would be spending so much money on him. Since getting a complete range of clothes wasn't exactly cheap.   
The three women noticed this, noticed how he automatically glanced at the price tags of every article they were showing him and tried to assure him that he didn't have to worry about it. Especially considering the fact that money wasn't exactly an object for Lena and she'd be more than happy to help out.

He still didn't appear to feel too confident about the whole thing but he attempted to brush it off as he could tell that they were sincere.   
When they finally decided that they had enough for now, they made their way back.  
On the way however they passed a store and upon seeing one specific object in a display window, a memory clicked inside of Lena and she nudged Linda's arm, pointing in the direction.   
Linda turned her head, searching for what her girlfriend meant and when she found it, she nodded with a smile.  
She gently grabbed Mikhail's hand to pull him along. He was confused at first but as soon as he realised what was in their sight, his eyes lit up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm learning so many russian words because of this fanfic haha xD  
> Hope you liked the chapter! ^-^


	33. Chapter 46A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this wasn't uploaded yesterday, I completely forgot!

Linda had been ecstatic and thankful when Lena had drawn her attention to the display window of the little sports shop. She would have missed it if Nia hadn't done that.   
Not only was Mikhail's facial expression upon seeing something as simple as a football heartwarming and not only did it delight her that she could make him happy.  
But she also felt very touched by the fact that the Luthor remembered such a tiny detail of a story which she had told her a year ago - in a fleeting moment without any great importance. But Lena remembered - because she was caring and loving. 

Linda hadn't ever dared to believe that she would ever see him again. That he was still alive and well. She had been grieving him for so long.  
And now she was watching him walk in front of her, lightly kicking the ball from one foot to another and looking back at her every now and then with a big joyful grin on his face.  
Every now and then she had to remind herself that she wasn't dreaming or imagining it. 

She turned her head to the side when Lena's hand slid into her's. Her other hand linked with Kara's who also turned her head.  
The brunette looked at her with a knowing and sympathetic look in her eyes as if she knew what was going inside of her at the moment. She smiled softly at her and Linda promptly returned the gesture, leaning forward to give her a quick peck on the lips. 

After making their way home and putting all the new things aside, they decided to make use of the good weather and also to put that new football into play.  
And they took that very seriously, even all changing into some more comfortable clothes - Mikhail had gotten a set of sports clothes amongst other things so he changed into those. Linda and Nia both put on leggings and tops.   
If they were to play a game of football, they wanted to go all the way. 

They weren't too far away from a park so that's where they went.   
However before anything could happen, Mikhail as well as Lena and Kara had to explain to her what exactly to do in the first place.  
The two latter women had some knowledge of how to play from their childhood so that wasn't that big of an issue. They weren't exactly master players but at least they could manage getting the one or the other goal in.   
Linda on the other had only seen kids occasionally play from a distance and didn't actually know anything. But she quickly understood the rough concept.

And for a while, things went well. They had fun.   
Then Linda underestimated the strength of one kick a little too much and the ball shot through the air, losing complete control over the direction it was supposed to go and ending up with a crash into a stone wall nearby, which was supposed to act as a boundary of the park's grass field. The impact alone created a loud thud, enough to automatically make Linda hide her face behind her hands in embarrassment.  
Mikhail, Lena and Kara all stared at the light dent which was now decorating the stone wall before turning their heads to each other and starting to snort with laughter.

"It's not funny!", Linda exclaimed, her hands still covering her face and therefore muffling her voice. There were a few seconds of silence before she finally lowered them a little so that they could at least see her wide eyes. She added in a whisper: "Do you think anyone saw that?"  
Kara chuckled, knowing the feeling of embarrassment after kinda losing control over her powers too well, and glanced around.   
People obviously couldn't care less. They continued their picnics or card games and small talk as if nothing had been going on.  
She turned back to Linda and shook her head.  
The latter released a relieved breath and let her hands fall back down.  
"Hmm...", Lena made, chewing on her bottom lip in thought. "You know, I think I have an idea how this is gonna be even more fun."

Around half an hour later, all the Superfriends strolled around, all dressed into fitting sporty clothes as well.  
Except for J'onn who definitely didn't want to join the game but he decided to still come along and to act as some sort of referee.  
They divided up into teams and as they walked around to go to their respective spaces, Alex shot Lena a playful grin.  
"We're gonna crush you, Luthor.", she teased. "You probably don't know the last thing about sports like this."

Lena raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I wouldn't be so sure. You know when you're a highschooler and have the burden of the Luthor name, you do anything to gain popularity. Playing chess isn't gonna impress other teenagers, football on the other hand does. I've actually been pretty good."  
Alex sighed in obvious disappointment. "Of course you are. Why am I even trying to find something you're bad at."  
Lena chuckled.

Kara had meanwhile been following the conversation quite closely. She blinked a few times. "I can't tell if I'm supposed to feel sorry for your younger self now or if I'm supposed to find this hot."  
The Luthor grinned and came closer to stop directly in front of her. She gently patted her shoulder. "A healthy mixture of both is best probably.", she said with a wink.  
Kara's eyes shone brightly and she leaned forward to kiss her.   
They pulled away shortly and Lena turned slightly around, making a slight head movement at Linda who grinned and skipped closer until she could halt in front of them and also receive a kiss from Lena.

"Oi! We wanna start!", Alex exclaimed.   
The three didn't budge.  
"Guys.", Alex yelled, shaking her head.   
Now the other three pulled away, all grinning sheepishly.   
Kara and Lena walked over to the one side while Linda joined the friends on the other side of their improvised playing field.  
They would have chosen to be on the same team but they thought it would be more balanced and fair if each team had a kryptonian on their side.  
So now they could start playing. And they ended up having a really good time. They also proudly wore the title of being probably the biggest, gayest family in that whole park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!


	34. Chapter 47A

Linda looked across the table at Mikhail who was currently getting handed a glass of orange juice from Lena.   
She kneaded her hands nervously and chewed on her lip.  
She was so focused on following his every move, even as he disappeared behind the bathroom door, that she didn't even realise that Kara had taken notice of her nervousness and tilted her head.   
"Lin, you can relax, nothing bad's gonna happen.", she said softly.  
Linda's head jerked into her direction, looking at her with slightly widened eyes.

Lena walked over as well now, leaning against the counter and placing a hand on Linda's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.  
"You seem more nervous than he is.", she said quietly with a smile, obviously amused. "It's just his first day of school. Nothing dramatic. He'll be fine."

Linda took a deep breath. "I know. But it's strange. He's been coming with us to CatCo for the past week and now he suddenly won't anymore and it's-"  
Kara sighed and glanced at her sympathetically. "I- We get it, okay? You're overprotective because of what happened in Kasnia. Because of what Lex did to you, and to him. Of course you're scared now."  
Lena nodded, chiming in now. "But you won't lose him again. You don't have to be afraid anymore. We're all protecting him now. We're family now."  
Linda glanced over as Mikhail stepped out of the bathroom again and looked at her excitedly.  
Then she sighed. "I know. I'm trying to remind myself of that.", she said in a hushed voice.

The other two women smiled softly. Lena leaned forward, cupping the blonde's face and pressing a kiss on her hairline. As she straightened herself again, she exclaimed: "Well, then I guess, we should get going. The young man here has a first day of school to attend and I have to get to L-Corp for an important business meeting."  
The others nodded.  
Linda got up from her chair and sped away. Within seconds, she was clad into shoes and her leather jacket.   
She handed Mikhail the motorcycle helmet for kids, which they had acquired recently.

The four of them walked out together and in front of the appartement, they had to part ways.   
"Alright then. Have fun on your first day, buddy.", Kara smiled down at Mikhail, holding her hand up for a high-five which Mikhail just too willingly accepted.  
"See you later.", Lena added before turning to Linda and gaving her a kiss on the lips. "And you too."  
Linda nodded with a smile. "I love you."  
"I love you too.", Lena responded softly.   
At that, Kara and Lena made their way over to her car, as they would drive together with Lena dropping the blonde off at CatCo and continueing her way to L-Corp. Meanwhile Linda and Mikhail walked over to the motorcycle not too far away either.

"Hold on tight.", Linda said, waiting a few more seconds for Mikhail to strengthen the grip around her torso before starting the engine and driving off.  
The way to the school wasn't very far. They arrived after just a few minutes. 

As they both dismounted the motorcycle, Linda felt as though her heart grew heavy. She knew it was silly. She would see him again in a few hours, he wasn't going to get hurt in there. Everything was fine, yet she couldn't help the feeling of dismay that overcame her when she fully digested the fact that she'd have to leave without him.   
She pushed the feeling aside however when she noticed that Mikhail seemed to grow nervous now as well. 

She knelt down in front of him and took his hands into her's. She put on a reassuring smile for the both of them. "It's gonna be okay. You're a brave boy."  
"I would much rather go with you and Kara again.", he admitted with a sigh.  
Linda bit her lip. That statement was almost enough to just make her cave in and take him back with her to CatCo but she knew that he really needed to do this. It would be good for him. "I know. But hey, I'm sure it's gonna be great. And if anything happens, all you have to do is call me and I'll be right here to pick you up, okay?"

Mikhail smiled and nodded.   
Linda returned the gesture and was curtly started when he pulled out his hands from her's and instead threw his arms around her. She wrapped her own arms around his body until he was ready to let go.   
Then she stood up and watched as he marched towards the building, joining the other kids which were all forming a crowd already as they entered the school. 

Linda sighed as Mikhail disappeared amongst the other kids and turned back to her motorcycle. One last glance at the school which had closed it's doors behind the last few children by now and then she drove off to get to CatCo.

There, she plopped down between her desk, staring at the space in front her. Very much unmotivated.   
Then hands suddenly came to rest on her shoulders from behind and not a second later her twin's voice said: "So how did it go?"  
Linda sighed. "It wasn't easy. I just have to try to remind myself that this will be good for him. To be around other kids..."  
Kara nodded, walking around leaning against the desk to look at her sister. "He's a great kid. He'll have a bunch of friends in no time, I'm sure."  
Linda smiled, agreeing quietly.

After a few more minutes, Kara returned to her own workspace again.  
And though, Linda was constantly trying to convince herself that she didn't have to worry and that Mikhail would be fine, she couldn't help but glance at the clock every five minutes - yearning for the time when she could get out of CatCo and pick the boy up from school.   
Though she surprisingly still got quite a lot of work done.  
That didn't stop her from basically jumping to her feet as soon as it was time for her to go though. She had to pull herself together not to break into too fast steps which would probably draw attention to her and she wanted to avoid.

Just a few minutes later, she was on her way to the school. As she arrived, a few other parents as well as school busses were already there.  
When the first kids came out of the building, she started looking out for Mikhail. Not much later, she could spot him. He was walking with another boy and a girl, apparently siblings as they looked very alike and also went to the same adult once they had said goodbye to Mikhail by doing a high-five.

Then Mikhail turned around, seemingly scanning the space until his eyes fell on Linda, who gave him a small wave, and his face broke into a big goofy grin.   
He fastened his steps as he moved closer.  
"Hi.", Linda greeted him with a smile after he had once again, just as he did before, wrapped his arms around her torso. "How was your first day?"  
"It was great! I made two friends!", he said excitedly, pointing at the car in which the two other children had disappeared in.   
"That's amazing, Mikhail.", Linda grinned, not being able to resist ruffling his hair. He responded with an offended gasp but it was so painfully obvious that he was only playing pretend that the blonde laughed and shook her head. "Come on, let's go."

Mikhail didn't need to hear that twice. He happily took the helmet she was handing him and climbed back onto the space behind her on the motorcycle, holding onto her waist from behind.


End file.
